By Claire Weston

Kip Moore returned to the UK and Ireland this week for his own headline tour. It’s been a little over a year since the infamous C2C London appearance and consequent meet and greet with half of the O2 Arena afterward. His return was eagerly anticipated, with a string of dates for the tour saw venue upgrades because of the demand for tickets, with Glasgow selling out in about an hour.

I made the trip across to Dublin for the first night of the tour, at an amazing 650 capacity venue called The Academy. The night started with title track ‘Wild Ones’ from Kip’s sophomore album, released in August 2015. Up next was ‘Crazy one more time’ and he played a mix of songs from both albums throughout the night. The audience already had their beer glasses in the air way before the intro to ‘Beer Money’ had even started, matching the on-stage energy and ready for a great Friday night. I’m probably guilty of not listening to Kip’s records in full as much as I should, but there’s something about his live performance that is captivating. At one point, someone threw a knitted scarf onto the stage, and Kip picked it up with a smile, “I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do with this right now”

Mid way through the set, Kip’s band exited the stage for him to play some acoustic numbers. Someone in the crowd yelled out for him to play ‘Mary Was The Marrying Kind’, with Kip responding ‘Does anyone but you know that song? I haven’t played it in a long time. I’m not sure i even remember how to play it!’ Cue the audience starting to sing it, and Kip looking out from the stage in awe before politely obliging. After ‘Girl of Summer’ and ‘Complicated’, came an acoustic version of ‘Dirt Road’ – a fantastic track loved by audiences over here but not by country radio in the US, and so sadly didn’t make the cut on his album.

With the band back on stage, ‘Hey Pretty Girl’ was up next, with one girl in the audience screaming so loud and everyone else laughing, that he had to take a moment before finishing the song with perfect composure. Finishing up with ‘Somethin’ About A Truck’ and ‘Magic’ before his encore, Kip made it very clear he’s already looking to come back next year. The night didn’t end there, with an impromptu ‘after party’ in the alley behind the venue, and Kip coming out with his guitar to play a couple of songs to an excited crowd.

I love how much fun he looked like he was having on stage, I love how genuinely grateful he is to be there and I love how he interacts with his fans. My favourite thing about seeing US artists come over here is the overwhelming reaction they get to songs that are not necessarily country radio hits, and this show was no exception. I might have bought a ticket for the London date because the Dublin date was so good….