It’s long been said that Nashville is a 10-year town. A decade grinding it out in Music City should either make or break you as an artist, and in the case of Kelsea Ballerini, the years of hard work, co-writes, opening tour slots, and laborious studio sessions more than paid off. Taking on a sold-out show in her home city’s Bridgestone Arena on January 31st was proof.
Backstage prior to the stop on the ongoing “Patterns” tour, in a small room packed with the people who have walked alongside her throughout the journey, the passage of time was top of mind for the singer. “I could say this journey started when I moved to Nashville sixteen years ago, or when I put out my first release,” she said — then, later, continued the thought on stage for 20,000 people. “When I headlined the Ryman in 2018, I told my team I wouldn’t play a headlining show here in Nashville until I could sell out the Bridgestone Arena.” She paused and glanced around, beaming. “I kept my word.”
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It’s tempting to look at Ballerini’s career in the sharp relief of a before and after: There is her work pre Rolling Out the Welcome Mat, the 2023 EP where vulnerability took center stage and earned the artist an enormous wave of enthusiastic new fans, and there is after. But the story is bigger and more detailed than that, and the set list for the “Patterns” tour reflects the narrative with more nuance. Ballerini has an undeniable talent for hooky melodies and loves the inclusivity offered by working in pop — “I wanted to make music for the girls and the gays,” she remarked at one point onstage — but crack her heart open, and you’d find a deep-rooted adoration for country music.
And while some artists may use country as a launchpad before shaking off Music Row’s idiosyncratic processes in favor of more mainstream appeal, and others still have been dipping their toes into country as visitors as of late, Ballerini thrives in that intersection and has no intention of abandoning one in favor of the other. She looked every bit the pop star on stage at Bridgestone, visibly glowing through a trio of costume changes, but tunes like “HEARTFIRST” and “hole in the bottle” are the product of someone who wore out a Trisha Yearwood CD or two in their youth.
“No one knows what it’s like being a woman in Nashville except for a woman in Nashville,” she’s said in recent promos for her new judge role on the upcoming season of The Voice. Ballerini has been with Nashville’s Black River Entertainment for over a decade; she signed her first contract with the independent label at age 19. Since then, she’s worked with a wide range of co-writers and producers, but in recent years, she’s been highly intentional about cultivating an inner circle of women. Her 2024 album, Patterns, features only female songwriters on the credits, and was co-produced by Ballerini and Alysa Vanderheym. The result was a project that showcases maturity and growth, feeling like a natural extension of the soul-baring Welcome Mat without seeming like it’s attempting to repeat its success.
The celebration of sisterhood has now extended to the tour of the same name, with Sasha Alex Sloan and MaRynn Taylor on board as openers in Nashville. The vibe was interrupted for a good reason, though, when Ballerini welcomed Keith Urban to the stage; she’d opened for Urban in 2018, but the duet rendition of his 2006 track “Stupid Boy” felt like the work of two peers. “Watching from side stage, this show is absolutely badass,” he remarked.
It’s an accurate description, to Mr. Urban’s credit. The “Patterns” tour is visually immersive, but never lets spectacle overtake the star at its center. Throughout the 22 carefully selected songs on the set list, Ballerini struts and shimmies, but her vocals never slip. Maybe every tour stop is like this, or perhaps Ballerini was just that excited to be home, but there was a certain sense of freedom on display at Bridgestone: “My pilates instructor is here, and my hair colorist is here, and my dog’s oncologist is here,” she said before gesturing to the pit. “And my best friends are here.” She engaged in a rock-paper-scissors battle for a guitar pick with a fan and spent time reading signs. On the “Patterns” tour, she’s the vision of the friend everyone wants to have; the cool girl at the party who is that nice, and remembers your name the next time you bump into each other.
This writer first met Kelsea Ballerini in 2018. She was working hard, to be sure, but she was relatively guarded, and her only comment on that evening’s show was that it was her final performance of the year. In 2022, I met her again, the day before she announced what would be a very public and very difficult divorce, but her energy was already different; lighter, freer. Now, at 31, Ballerini seems to have fully come into her own, and the result is incredible. After the encore performance of “Penthouse,” tears filled her eyes. The “Patterns” tour is the story of milestones still to be reached and goals waiting to be realized — and at its center is someone truly worth rooting for.
See the full list of “Patterns” tour dates, and score tickets here.
Set List (Nashville):
01. Patterns
02. Baggage
03. Love Me Like You Mean It
04. HEARTFIRST
05. This Time Last Year
06. IF YOU GO DOWN (I’M GOIN’ DOWN TOO)
07. hole in the bottle
08. First Rodeo
09. Blindsided
10. Miss Me More
11. We Broke Up
12. Two Things
13. Mountain With a View/Interlude
14. Wait!
15. Cowboys Cry Too
16. Stupid Boy (Keith Urban cover) (with Keith Urban)
17. Beg For Your Love
18. Peter Pan
19. MUSCLE MEMORY
20. I Would, Would You
21. How Do I Do This
22. Penthouse