Post Malone’s big energy and small beers turn KC’s Kauffman Stadium into a party
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Post Malone handed out Bud Light cans to front-row fans during his Kauffman Stadium set.
- Post Malone’s KC show blended trap and country with a rural-inspired stage design.
- Tech N9ne joined Jelly Roll onstage to perform "Red Kingdom.
Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium was defined by beer, cigarettes, cowboy hats and — wait, is that Tech N9ne?
Post Malone’s Big Ass Stadium Tour Part 2 came to Kansas City in cowboy fashion, bringing along a fear and praise of God, Bud Light, and a strategic blend of trap and country music.
Post Malone is an 18-time Grammy nominee and 11-time Billboard Music Awards winner. His co-sung single “Sunflower” written for “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” is a 17x platinum song and is the highest-certified single in Recording Industry Association of America’s history.
It makes sense why Jean Morales solo-traveled from Puerto Rico just to see him, the farthest he’s ever traveled for a concert. Morales is a big fan of country — he’s been to and adores Nashville and is traveling to Baltimore after the Post Malone concert to see Morgan Wallen.
“The personality of his rap music, I love it,” Morales said. “He introduced me to country music, so now I’m more open to listening to country music, so I love him because of that.”
The thankful and polite, yet rowdy Post Malone was preceded onstage Wednesday by first opening artist Carter Faith and part-coheadliner, part-opener Jelly Roll . Since transitioning away from his roots in trap and hip-hop with 2024 single “I Had Some Help,” Posty has gone near-full country.
The stage in front of Kauffman Stadium’s iconic fountains made the perfect backdrop — it resembles a small, rural town that travelers would normally drive through on a trip out west. A runaway highway ramped up the left side of the stage and came down to form the peninsula of the main stage. At the top of the main stage, a metal road barricade lined with lampposts illuminated different colors for each song. Flanking the stage were two large neon signs of a cowboy and cowgirl, waving back and forth as if inviting a traveler to come visit for a night.
After his repeated Fan Fest appearances, in a not-so-shocking turn of events that was greeted with ear-bursting cheers and chants, local hip-hop artist Tech N9ne took the stage alongside Jelly Roll during his set to perform “Red Kingdom.” Jelly Roll called the rapper one of the “greatest lyricists” of our generation, and the two commanded the crowd with a lyric call and response with outstanding success — foreshadowing Posty’s own crowd control.
After taking the stage at 9:18 to play until 10:50, a barefoot Post Malone crouched near the end of the main stage and pointed to his left. The crowd rang out. To his right, the crowd screamed.
To drink or not to drink
Despite Jelly Roll and Post Malone’s overlapping musical styles, they could not have more different stage presences when it comes to liquid courage.
Jelly Roll has been open about his struggles battling alcohol and harder drug addictions. His song “Bloodline” was ushered in by an emotional connection with the crowd. He explained that there’s a “generational curse” that’s plagued his family. His grandfather was an alcoholic, his dad was an alcoholic and he is an alcoholic.
Because of the curse, he continued, his young son who was in attendance at the concert would be an alcoholic. But he said it takes one person to break the generational curse, one person to put their hand up and say they will not continue. Jelly Roll was that one person in his family, announcing that he is an alcoholic and will not let it continue down his. . . well… “Bloodline.”
The song written in collaboration with Alex Warren boomed from the stage, an anthem about breaking generational trauma fueled by addiction. He congratulated one attendee on being eight years sober, and another on coming up on their “big” first year sober.
But not one hour later, Post Malone took the stage with a red Solo cup and cigarette in one hand and a microphone in the other, fire at his feet down the stage’s peninsula.
During his second song, “Better Now,” Posty took what would be far from the first swig of beer from a front row fan. At the end of the song, he chugged another beer and slammed the empty can against his head.
He did not hide his intentions — after the third song, he announced: “My name is Austin Richard Post and I came to play some shitty songs and party hard while we do it.”
Post Malone said that the weather was perfect for a concert. But by mid-show, it was impossible to tell whether the liquid down his shirt and flinging from his hair with every head whip was sweat or beer. Or Tito’s, which he said was saturating his sweat.
In the last parts of his set, he told the crowd, “We’d like to help quench some thirst tonight” before playing “Pour Me a Drink.” He managed to multitask singing and handing out what must’ve been cases worth of Bud Light beer to the front row lining the stage. Posty has been in a partnership with Bud Light for 10 years now, and to celebrate, this year the team released “Bud Light x Posty Co. Minis” — and the cans made their way into fans’ hands for free.
He raised a toast with a can of his own, and the crowd toasted along with him. And if there’s one thing that will win the hearts of country lovers, it’s beer. And maybe praising the Lord, which also happened at the K Wednesday night.
After his first song, Jelly Roll said he’d normally take that time to talk about himself, but instead asked the crowd, “Can we go to church right now?” He went into song two, a cover of “Hard Fought Hallelujah.” As a reminder of who he is, he concluded the song saying he likes to live life between praising the Lord and the middle finger. That’s when the concert came back to what would be its motif: His drummer “Pork Chop” slammed two beers and ripped a gnarly drum set solo.
Does KC like country or hip-hop Post Malone better?
Don’t be fooled by the overwhelming amount of cowboy boots and hats that filled the K on Wednesday night. From trucker hats to black fishnets, Post Malone representative fans were a mix of country folk and hip-hop/trap lovers — but it seemed that a significant portion of the crowd prefers his old music.
Nichole and Rob Clarke have been fans since about 2017, having fallen in love with his music when it was brand new and not in a “box.” But now, it’s like he’s another new artist for the second time, when he switched his brand — new music for Nichole to fall in love with.
“I really like that he’s in everything. Like he covered a Nirvana CD during COVID,” Nichole said. “You hear him bring back all these old country songs, but yet he can get out there and rap. It’s like he can do everything, and it’s so fun to have like a million people in one body.”
It’s true. While the set list looked like it split time between old and new music — hip-hop and country — most of the concert was country-heavy. Songs like Nichole’s favorite “Congratulations” began with their trap, bass-heavy sound but would evolve to a lighter country twang. Having a steel guitarist and fiddle player contributed heavily to the tone-switching. Even a light background noise from one of them would shift the feel to country.
A fan-favorite — based on the crowd’s echoing singing through the stadium — “Sunflower” replaced trap with cymbals, fiddles and the steel guitar. The western take on the piece allowed for both the fiddler and steel guitarist to solo in the outro just to nail home Posty’s shift to country, and it looks like he’s taking his old music with him.
Jana Kirschbaum has seen Post Malone in concert four times, having attended the Big Ass Stadium Tour part 1 in Las Vegas. She remembers the show being energetic, something she expected from him on stage later.
“He had two stages. OK, he had a front stage and then he had one in the back, and he kind of, you know, was a little quick switch room. He surprised everybody, and the crowd went wild. And then he made a mad dash down through the crowd.”
This time around, the 10-year-long fan was able to bring along fellow fan and granddaughter Lexi Cranmer, and the two sat VIP for the first time at a concert.
Kirschbaum predicted Posty’s moves perfectly. For his final song “Congratulations,” he appeared on a small rectangular platform enclosed with light bars hanging down around him. The crowd shifted their attention to the secondary stage just beyond the main one. From the top of the elevated stage, flames ejected and Post Malone made a heart with his hands, like he’d been doing all show long.
From that height, he preached, “It’s so easy to look outside this building and feel so defeated… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to just give up.”
He thanked the crowd for never giving up on him, and sharing their love with him. In a final note before delivering outrageous screaming vocals, he said, “No matter what you want to do, you can fucking do it.”
Post Malone’s set list
- “Wow.”
- “Better Now”
- “Wrong Ones”
- “Go Flex”
- Hollywood’s Bleeding”
- “I Fall Apart”
- “Losers”
- “Goodbyes”
- “What Don’t Belong to Me”
- “I Ain’t Comin’ Back”
- “Feeling Whitney”
- “Circles”
- “White Iverson”
- “Psycho”
- “Pour Me a Drink”
- “Dead at the Honky Tonk”
- “rockstar”
- “I Had Some Help”
- “Sunflower”
- “Congratulations”
Jelly Roll’s set list
- “Hands Up”
- “Hard Fought Hallelujah” (Brandon Lake cover)
- “Liar”
- “Son of a Sinner”
- “Amen”
- “Bloodline” / “Wake Me Up”
- “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” (Green Day cover) / “Wild Ones”
- “Lonely Road” / “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (John Denver cover)
- “Red Kingdom” with Tech N9ne
- “I Am Not Okay”
- “Need a Favor”
- “Old Time Rock & Roll” (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band cover)
- “Save Me”
