Kelsea Ballerini Performs at Musikfest

After two and a half years of aiming to make a performance at Musikfest happen, country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini finally took the stage on Thursday, August 11th at the music festival in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

She kicked off the show with a strut to the center of the stage before singing the opening lines to "Miss Me More," a kick-ass anthem for those post-breakup emotions. While performing Ballerini exudes confidence and power, and the crowd fed off of her energy.

Before she went into "half of my hometown," her collaboration with Kenny Chesney, and her latest number one on country radio, Ballerini spoke about putting out a record in March of 2020: right at the start of COVID's reign of terror. She spoke sarcastically stating, "Great timing." She noted how she was worried the songs might not reach people during such a turbulent time, but this song specifically proved her wrong. The performance was moving as the audience sang along to every word.

There was a moment that came when Ballerini told her band to "hold the track." She paused to point out a little girl who made a sign explaining that she turned 11 at 11:11 p.m. that night. Ballerini had the crowd sing Happy Birthday while the girl was shown on the big screen with the biggest smile on her face.

A special moment came when she performed the newly-released "LOVE IS A COWBOY," a metaphorical, slow, and sweet ode. It was the second time she had done the song in front of a live audience.

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After performing songs like "the other girl" and the fan-favorite, "needy," Ballerini told the crowd that this was her last headlining show before her new tour, slated to start in September, begins in support of her upcoming record SUBJECT TO CHANGE. This was one of the last times she was going to be performing the tracks from her 2020 project kelsea.

Before performing her fun drinking tune "hole in the bottle" she shouted out a section in the crowd wearing sparkly and bedazzled cowboy hats before putting on her own glittering, silver hat.

Despite the infectious high energy kept throughout the night, the best part of the show came during the first song of the encore. Ballerini spoke candidly before performing "homecoming queen" stating the struggles of being a woman. She made comments noting how society tells women how to look, how to feel, and how to live, and that while writing this vulnerable anthem, she gave herself the permission to feel things - feel the good emotions, and feel the bad ones too.

She took out her in-ear monitor and listened as the crowd sang along the loudest they did all night.

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