Thousands of concertgoers donned their best plaid shirts and cowboy boots at Saturday night for some of the biggest names in country music. The “Changed” tour, featuring , , the and lured a diverse audience of die-hard country fans, families with first-timers and all day tailgaters to Englewood.
The venue was at capacity early for the Eli Young Band and Little Big Town, the latter with a lot to celebrate — its single “Pontoon” recently reached No. 1, a first time feat in the band’s 13-year history. When the song came up in the set, LBT band members put on trucker hats with “#1” on the front, which were given to them by the Eli Young Band to commemorate the occasion.
At 9:30 p.m., strands of lights dropped from the top of the stage, forming columns around the three-piece Rascal Flatts. The trio kicked off its set with the tour’s title track, “Changed,” and a crowd-energizing rendition of “Banjo.” With a set rife with popular singles, the only downside of the show was trying to hear the band over the people singing around you.
Rascal Flatts covered all the bases, even making a point to do so by taking requests from the crowd in the middle of the set. The only rule, according to the band, was that it had to be a Rascal Flatts song — “no Brad Paisley or Jason Aldean.” Fans danced and sang along with “Mayberry,” “Stand,” “Bless the Broken Road” and the group’s latest single, “Come Wake Me Up.” The best sing-along of the night, however, went to John Elway, who joined Rascal Flatts on stage for “Life is A Highway.” The legendary Bronco sang along with the band even danced a little before rejoining the crowd upfront.
The 90-minute set wrapped with a collaboration of “We’re An American Band” that brought out Little Big Town and the Eli Young Band to close the night.
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Paige Montgomery is a Denver-based freelance writer. Check out more of her work on Facebook and .
Karson Brown is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
