Last week Dierks Bentley kicked off his Gravel and Gold Tour 2023 in Toronto at the Budweiser Stage. The show opened with the Bluegrass sound of Molly Tuttle and her band. The California native got the crowd going with music from her Grammy winning album. The sounds of the banjo, fiddle and mandolin along with the amazing harmonies got the crowd on their feet.
Next up Jordan Davis brought his high energy to the stage and had the crowd singing along with fan favorites Next Thing You Know, Part of It, Singles You Up and What My World Spins Around. He had the audience slow dancing to Slow Dancing in a Parking Lot and talked about his amazing wife and waiting on baby number 3 before singing “Detours”. He ended his set with his smash hit “Buy Dirt”. No pressure at all for Jordan with his boss Dierks hanging out at the side of the stage taking the show in!
Dierks took to the stage with music off his new album Gold, performing the title song “Gold” and “Same Ole Me” and got the show started. “I Hold On “ gave Dierks a chance to make some fans in the front row very happy as he was reaching out and holding on while singing the song. Dierks continued on with some of his older music as well as some newer stuff. He chatted about his journey to Nashville and then his expectations for life.
Dierks and his band broke out into their version of “Calling Baton Rouge” which lead me to think that we may be getting an appearance from Hot Country Knights at some point in the evening. He talked about seeing Molly Tuttle performing at a festival in Telluride and falling in love with the music and knew that he needed to bring her out on the road with him. He invited her back out on the stage to sing two more songs with him. “5-1-5-0” brought out the bra thrown from an audience member to be turned over eventually to one of Dierk’s crew members. Dierks ended the show by bringing back out Jordan Davis for “What Was I Thinking?”
The encore saw Captain Dierks taking us on a flight with Riser Air and the crowd favorite “Somewhere on a Beach”. Dierks and his band quickly exited the stage afterwards, only to see Hot Country Knights make an appearance. They graced us with a melody of 80’s and 90’s country music, along with their many antics. This was my 10th time seeing Dierks in concert and I was not disappointed. He is honestly one of my favorites to watch live and anyone going to see this tour will not be disappointed.
Review by: Tracey Ellis