Jason Aldean’s return to the road tops busy weekend at Yum! Center
Jason Aldean
Opening: Chris Young, Kane Brown, Dee Jay Silver. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at KFC Yum! Center, 1 Arena Plaza in Louisville. $33.25-$74.25. 502-690-9000. Kfcyumcenter.com, Jasonaldean.com.
Kings of Leon
Opening: Dawes. 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. $29.50-$79.50. Kfcyumcenter.com, Kingsofleon.com.
The opening of Saturday Night Live on Oct. 7 was one of those increasingly rare instances where network television got things right.
Having canceled his concerts that weekend following the horrific Las Vegas shootings, where 58 patrons where killed during and just after his performance, Jason Aldean began the program with words of faith and renewed strength for the city and the event’s survivors. That alone would have been enough. But then the country star and his band launched into “I Won’t Back Down,” a popular song of defiance that was not his own. It was a major 1989 hit for Tom Petty, who died unexpectedly the day after the Las Vegas tragedy. Two profoundly sad events answered by a single song and, when you think about it, the most appropriate artist to deliver it.
Aldean will be in a giving mood again this weekend when his reconvened “They Don’t Know” tour stops at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. Friday night’s show has been dubbed “Concert for the Cure,” as a check will be presented during the evening to Susan G. Komen Kentucky from proceeds raised through a portion of Aldean’s ticket sales this year.
A busy Yum! Center weekend switches gears on Saturday to welcome Kings of Leon. The acclaimed Nashville rock troupe donated proceeds from an Oct. 6 concert at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to Music City Cares. The Nashville-based fund has been set up to support victims and families of the Las Vegas shootings as well as the first responders who came to their aid.
As a bonus, Kings of Leon’s Yum! Center show will feature an opening set by Dawes, the indie/Americana troupe that has been a regular in the region in 2017. The band headlined a show at Louisville’s Brown Theatre in April, topped a Friday lineup at Somerset’s Master Musicians Festival in July and shared a bill with John Mayer at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center in August.
Read Walter Tunis' blog, The Musical Box, at LexGo.com.
This story was originally published October 18, 2017 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Jason Aldean’s return to the road tops busy weekend at Yum! Center."