Live Review: Kane Brown @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Saturday night saw urban and regional-living country fans emerge in droves to make their way to North Brisbane’s Entertainment Centre. With cowboy hats, boots, and fun t-shirts (“I’m sad but I have my ute”) out the wazoo, these Queenslanders packed out the 13,500 capacity arena to near-full, keen to see a glimpse of Tennessee country music star Kane Brown.

New Zealand country sensation Kaylee Bell kicked off the night early, covering the arena in red light to match her star-spangled red blazer. For those trying to put a face to the name, Bell was a contestant on The Voice Australia’s 2022 edition, amassing four turned chairs in her audition with her original song Keith.

Bell took her crowd-pleasing chops to a larger audience and still turned heads like she turned chairs - it definitely helps to have experience opening for Ed Sheeran’s 2023 New Zealand tour. Bell played hits such as Keith which started it all, as well as funtime hits Boots N All and Nights Like This, and her James Johnston collab SAME SONGS.

Along with this, Bell managed the perfect time to expose 10,000+ country fans to her brand-new song, Cowboy Up, which came out on 14 November. On KIX Country the same morning, Bell admitted she wrote her song in March, teasing it on TikTok, where it went viral.

Speaking to KIX’s Justin Thomson, Bell admitted the song was a call-out to men to “Get your sh*t together or get out of here; Cowboy up or cowboy out.” As soon as the Kane Brown tour is done, Bell revealed she would be immediately back on the recording grind, getting into her studio in Nashville to record an album. 

Bell showed no signs of exhaustion after finishing her half-hour set, making a bee-line for the foyer to meet fans in the intermission. As the Kiwi crooner said her hellos to fans restocking their drinks, second opener Kameron Marlowe began to prep with his band for their 7:55 pm slot. 

Another Voice contestant turned star, Kameron Marlowe serenaded the crowd with his emotionally sobering ballads. From the heartfelt heartbreak tunes Giving You Up and Strangers to the nostalgia-inducing Girl On Fire, Marlowe had most fans staying in their seats to ride the whole set out.

“I never would’ve thought that a song that I wrote in my bedroom woulda taken me all the way to Australia,” the North Carolina singer said of his debut track Giving You Up, which landed him on the label Sony Music Publishing and subsequently Columbia Nashville Records. 

Since that time in 2019, Marlowe has released his 2022 debut album We Were Cowboys, and the 2024 follow-up, Keepin’ The Lights On. The titular song of his 2024 release was one of the last songs developed for the record, and significantly influenced the heart of the project. 

“That track means the world to me,” Marlowe told Country Now earlier this year of the single. “I grew up pretty broke. We were a poor family, but my family never wanted us to feel broke.”

A giving soul, Marlowe ended his set in a momentous way by exchanging a guitar pick with a little girl in the crowd. The girl, donning sparkly silver cowboy boots, was starstruck and stood directly in front of the singer at the end of the runway stage. 

Officially jazzed up by two talented opener acts, the crowd was practically begging for Brown to come out. The arena chattered loudly, with the occasional full-bellied roar of a chorus to the 90s hip-hop throwbacks playing during the wait time. Large Mexican waves oscillated from left to right of the arena, orchestrated by a lone cowboy-hate-wearing crowd member. Taking notice of this, the venue techs placed a spotlight on the character to give him more airtime, and the wave grew bigger and bigger. Nothing gets you going like the sporadically curated magic of country crowds.

A low hum entered the arena, building on the ball of kinetic energy developed throughout the stands in the intermission. A white light slashed through the stage as the opening chords of Kane Brown’s hit Bury Me In Georgia teased through the enveloping speakers. With plenty of smoke and a visual of a wall being knocked down projected in crystal-clear quality on the back of the stage, the prodigious singer emerged to croon the song about his birth state. 

Dressed in suit pants and a button-up top, Brown was equal parts effortlessly dapper and playful. He bobbed around from each member of his five-piece band through his opening track, utilising the loose pants to pull out some springy dance steps. 

Expecting this to be a finishing song, Brown then immediately launched into the TikTok-viral hit One Thing Right, keeping energy high. 

Making his way down under for the first time since 2022 when he headlined Queensland’s own CMC Rocks Festival, Brown has continued his country takeover with a notch on the coveted Twisters movie soundtrack for Country Classic, as well as teaming up with Marshmello once more for the instant electronic-country hit Miles On It.

Brown’s twangy baritone moved from one hyphenated country genre to another, going from the hip-hop hyped Grand, which was complimented by the same green laser spectacle as in the film clip, to the 80s-inspired I Can Feel It, a nod to Phil Collins’ hit song complete with drum accents complimented by fiery pyrotechnics.

Like Marlowe, Brown made a point to show that the spotlights hadn’t gotten to his working-class background - the singer used the song One Mississippi to travel to the back left side of the arena, gently high-fiving multiple hands on the way.

Performing on a temporary stage at the back of the room, Brown played a set that was intimate to members of the nosebleed section. While the rest of the band played in the shadows of the main stage, Brown crooned his song Backseat Driver under a spotlight towards the back. A new one from the upcoming album The High Road, this song is dedicated to Kane’s two tiny daughters, Kingsley and Kodi, and can now be extended to the latest bundle of joy between the singer and wife, Katelyn Brown (nee Jae). The musical couple introduced their baby boy Krewe to the world in June 2024. 

Throughout the show, Brown’s charisma shone as he danced, high-fived fans, and even filmed himself on a fan’s phone during Miles on It. Bringing four lucky children onstage (including sparkly boots) to get a glimpse at the limelight and help him sing Heaven was a heartfelt highlight, as Brown then encouraged the crowd to sing back to the youngsters. 

Keeping the magic of community going, Brown then brought his openers, Bell and Marlowe, back to the stage for a performance of the 2020 hit Famous Friends. 

Wrapping up with Like I Love Country Music, Brown showered the audience in silver confetti and selfies, taking the time to read each and every poster and engage with as many fans in the pit as possible. Ending the classic bluesy chord progression on a low note, Brown was soaring high as he absorbed the passion of Australian country fans, taking his bow of leave. 

While Brown, Bell, Marlowe and their teams cheered to red solo cups in the green room to their first leg of the Australian tour, thousands spilt out into the warm night air of Queensland summer. Folks from outer city couldn’t help but make the joke about how it felt like herding cattle trying to get out of the foyer doors, with people then taking their time to adjust their cowboy hats and debrief on their favourite bits in the bushy surrounds of Boondall. Packed utes charged by the bustling exits with Miles On It replaying through rolled-down windows as country fans rejoiced to a good ol’ country night out.