Kelsea Ballerini and Walker Hayes Show Love for New Jersey at Sold Out Show

Ballerini played Unapologetically almost front to back, with the fans singing along to practically every word.

Written by Kelly Brickey April 9, 2018

Kelsea Ballerini and Walker Hayes Show Love for New Jersey at Sold Out Show

Kelsea Ballerini; Photo by: Andrew Wendowski/Sounds Like Nashville

New York City ain’t got nothing on the star power of Kelsea Ballerini and Walker Hayes as they sold out a show in mass proportions when they hit the stage just outside of the city.

Fans showed up in the droves to hear both Hayes and Ballerini do their things, with Hayes up first as the opening support. He crashed the stage with his song, “Prescriptions,” quickly followed by an off-album track called “Break the Internet.” Giving off a Sam Hunt vibe mixed with the Ed Sheeran wordplay, the crowd went wild when Hayes danced around songs like “Beckett” and “Halloween.”

It was his mega-hit, “You Broke Up With Me,” that got the audience to roar in excitement as Hayes explained the inspiration behind the lyrics to be more of an industry dig after making it big rather than a breakup. Nevertheless, fans knew every word to the lighthearted diss and cheered Hayes on during his charming performance.

As the room went dark in anticipation of Ballerini’s headlining arrival, a voiceover took the crowd into the ‘Unapologetically’ mindset with the singer saying, “The heart, the most powerful and fragile part of us, the only thing that can break and then heal even stronger, it beats in colors, sometime hazy and hard to see, sometimes neon. It beats in song, sometimes tragic and sometimes epic, but always so amazing, tonight it’s every color, its every tempo, its every feeling. From loss to life to love, this is ‘Unapologetically.’ The story of the heart.”

From that moment on, vibrant lights and Ballerini’s charismatic stage presence captivated the loud crowd during her setlist filled with album cuts from Unapologetically. She played the record practically front to back, with production pushing through strongly from “High School” to “Miss Me More.” After giving a speech about her country music journey before crushing “Legends” to a sing-along audience, Ballerini exited the stage while applause erupted.

Naturally, Ballerini came back for round two and focused on her debut record by playing “Dibs,” “Peter Pan” and “Yeah Boy.” She stripped it all the way back for her final song of the evening, in which Ballerini gave an empowering speech about love and respect before hopping into an acoustic-style version of “Love Me Like You Mean It.”

Check out more pictures of the memories made during the Unapologetically Tour concert in the gallery below: