What an honor – Darius Rucker kicked off his Starting Fires Tour World Tour in my home tome Cologne. The Live Music Hall was reported being sold out for that Friday evening show on 19th April 2024. I was really excited to be able to cover this special concert for you. Darius Rucker’s support act that evening was Tyler Booth.
This posting comes with 350 major size pictures as part of the concert gallery.
Live Music Hall – About The Venue
The Darius Rucker show has just been the second one I feature from Cologne’s Live Music Hall (after Johnossi in June 2022). The 1,800 people capacity venue in Cologne-Ehrenfeld is one of the major concert venues in town. There are several public transport options around, so that using parking options is not absolutely necessary.
Darius Rucker & Tyler Booth – About The Artists
Darius Rucker is indeed one of the big names in the US-American music business. Born on 13th May 1966 in Charleston, Rucker became initially well-known in Europe with his band Hootie & the Blowfish. However, his concerts sell well nowadays on this part of the world as well. Overall, Rucker released eight albums as a solo artist so far. Thereby, neither of the six median albums released between 2008 and 2017 placed worse than third in the US Country Album Charts. Darius Rucker came to Cologne with his latest long-play release, Carolyn’s Boy.
Tyler Booth is a 1996-born country music artist from Campton in Ketucky. So far, he released two EPs, Tyler Booth (2017) and Grab the Reins (2021). Especially his 2021 single Palomino Princess has been very successful. It comes with 17 million streams on Spotify only.
Darius Rucker – The Show
Tyler Booth stepped on stage in the Live Musical Hall around 19:40, some ten minutes after the announced concert beginning. The venue was really packed. While Booth was solo for the first two songs, Freeborn Man and Half a Mind to Go Crazy, he was later joined by a pedal steel guitar player. The audience enjoyed Booth’s performance, but was still rather defensive. Also some of the 2023 releases like G.O.B. by the G.O.G. he played at the middle of the set could not change that. Nonetheless, Cologne gave Tyler Booth a big cheer at the end of his some 25 minute set, which he concluded with Hank Crankin’ People.
Darius Rucker back in Germany
The Live Music Hall turned into a party venue right when Darius Rucker stepped on stage at around 20:30, kicking off his some 90 minute set. The first two songs, Have a Good Time and Beers and Sunshine, are both tracks taken from the 2023 Carolyn’s Boy album. The crowd sang along with the South Carolina artist from the very first moment. Rucker and his band felt enthusiastic and happy at stage, so that this world tour kick-off turned into a great evening. Even when he played a medley in the middle of the set, featuring cover versions like Tim McGraw’s I like It, I Love It or T.L.C.’s Waterfalls, Cologne had a big party that evening.
The later parts of the show also had a couple of really fine classics. The last song before the encore, for example, was Homegrown Honey, which is the opener of his 2013 Southern Style long-play. Before, he also shared some Hootie & The Blowfish classics like Only Wanna Be With You. The three song encore featured Valerie, Champagne and Wagon Wheel – how could a country-rock evening close better? On a surprisingly cold day in Cologne, Darius Rucker left the Rheinland region warming the people’s hearts at a memorable evening.
Darius Rucker – The Gallery
Here are 350 major size pictures of the show. They are located in the concert gallery:
Darius Rucker – My View
I felt a bit of sad for Tyler Booth that Cologne was not that enthusiastic to him. Nonetheless, the Live Music Hall saw a great country music party. Darius Rucker underlined his exceptional quality on stage and connected to the German crowd in a lovely way. Thus, I feel that the vast majority of the audience will remember this evening for a good while.
Postings about Concerts
All postings about concerts I visited:
Myrtle Beach
Here are all my postings related to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina: