Review and photos by Katrina Gelety

On November 2, 2024, Tyler Hubbard’s Strong World Tour came to the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks, PA with Alana Springsteen as opener. This was my 4th time seeing Springsteen live, and I enjoyed her performance just as much as my prior shows. She opened her set with two of my favorite songs – “You Don’t Deserve a Country Song” and “Thinkin’ Straight.” Having these two at the front of the setlist showed the audience exactly what type of artist Springsteen is –  a powerhouse quickly rising in the country music scene with unique and emotional lyrics as well as instrumentals that catch your ear and make you want to dance. 

I was ecstatic to see Springsteen perform a handful of newer songs during her set. A couple of them were ones that haven’t been released yet – “Love Me Anyway” and “Lover Girl” – which gave the crowd a taste of what to expect on a new album. “Cowboy,” a recent release of Springsteen’s, was also on the setlist. As she was singing, she walked in front of fans at the barricade, grabbing their phones and recording special moments for them that they will cherish forever. 

The last part I want to highlight from Springsteen’s set was when she sang “Hold My Beer,” her current single. At one point, she split the crowd down the middle and had each side sing different lyrics from the song. The audience sang loud and proud whenever it was their turn. It was easy to see why Springsteen chose this specific song to be the first single from her new music. If you have the opportunity to see Alana Springsteen live, I highly recommend! I will continue to see her whenever she comes to the Pittsburgh area.

As I was waiting for Tyler Hubbard’s set to begin, my ear perked up at some of the songs that were on the pre-show playlist. Knox’s “I Don’t Wanna Know” went straight into Sam Hunt’s “House Party.” Those two songs are my favorites of both artists and were perfect in getting the crowd pumped up for Hubbard’s set.

Prior to this show, I had only ever seen Hubbard live when he was in Florida Georgia Line, and I was curious to see if the energy for his solo shows matched what I remembered the FGL concerts being – and it definitely does. Hubbard opened his set with “Park” which brought the energy in the room all the way to a 10. It was great to see that he still runs all around the stage and is constantly engaging the audience during those electric moments. 

One of my favorite points in the set was a speech Hubbard gave prior to performing “Small Town Me.” He said something along the lines of “the more I write about my hometown, the further in the world those songs seem to take me.” That really stuck with me, and I’m not fully sure I can explain why. It might be because it is such a wonderful way to look at his career while also paying homage to the place that made him who he is. 

Another beautiful moment was when Hubbard talked about meeting Christina, a special ed teacher, at his merch table prior to the show starting. He talked about his song “Heroes” and how he wrote it for people like Christina as well as first responders and any other person who has a career in which they put others above themselves. It made his performance of the song more personal and heartfelt. 

Crowd favorite performances included “5 Foot 9” and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be.” Hubbard asked the entire audience to sing Bebe Rexha’s verse of “Meant to Be,” and the crowd delivered by singing at the top of their lungs. Hubbard concluded the show with his song “Dancing in the Country,” and to no surprise, everyone in the audience let loose and danced their hearts out.

Finally, this doesn’t have to do with the show, but I HAVE to talk about it. I noticed that Hubbard shared a video the other day on Instagram of him recently writing a song with Johnny Franck of the band Bilmuri. Bilmuri has been on heavy listening rotation for me over the past six months, so I am absolutely stoked to hear the final song. They only recently wrote it, so I’m not sure how quickly it’ll drop, but I will be eagerly awaiting the song’s release!

I had such a lovely evening with Alana Springsteen and Tyler Hubbard. You will be doing yourself a disservice if you do not catch one of the shows on the Strong World Tour. Some photos I took from the show are below!