As far as we can tell, the closest country superstar Kane Brown came to Tucson was being on the lineup for the 2020 Country Thunder festival 90 minutes away in Florence.
But that turned out to be a bust courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers pushed back the original spring date to early fall only to cancel it altogether when health conditions around the state were still questionable.
We’re gonna consider Brown’s concert at the AVA at Casino del Sol on Thursday, Aug. 13, as a two-fer — his Tucson debut and a makeup for that lost Country Thunder date.
And if you didn’t get your tickets early, you may be out of luck. As of late last week, there were only a few scattered seats here and there in the 5,000-seat amphitheater; the lawn is completely full.
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Kane Brown’s first-ever Tucson concert on Thursday included orange-hot pyrotechnics and unwelcome mosquitos.
Brown comes here with 13 No. 1 songs, two of which he scored right out of the gate with his 2016 eponymous debut album: “Heaven” and “What Ifs,” featuring Lauren Alaina. That album also put Brown in the record books as the first artist to simultaneously top all five main Billboard country charts — Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Digital Song Sales and Country Streaming Songs.
The 32-year-old Chattanooga, Tennessee, native grew up listening to R&B but became a country music fan after winning a school talent contest with Chris Young’s “Gettin’ You Home” when he was in 11th grade.
His career began with a couple of social media videos he posted of covering songs by some of country music’s baritone-leaning hitmakers including Brantley Gilbert, Billy Currington and Alan Jackson, but it was his 2015 cover of George Strait’s “Check Yes or No” that made Brown a viral success. The song, posted on his Facebook page, got 7 million views and pushed him over a million followers, giving him the confidence to release his own songs.
Brown’s music infuses hip-hop beats and pop hooks with R&B rhythms in his often twangy, deeply rich baritone that easily transitions between genres. Hits you are likely to hear on Thursday include “Miles On It,” “Bury Me In Georgia,” “One Mississippi,” “Like I Love Country Music,” “Be Like That,” “Famous Friends” and “Thank God,” which he recorded with his wife, Katelyn. The couple married in 2018 and have two daughters and a son.
Thursday’s concert at the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road, begins at 8 p.m.; Caylee Hammack opens the show. Details at casinodelsol.com.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
