Everything about Morgan Wallen is oversized, from his two most recent albums (with 66 songs between them) to his chart success (15 of his 16 singles hit the Top 10 on country radio, with most landing at No. 1) to his many controversies that have somehow only made him bigger (uttering a racial epithet on video, tossing a chair six stories off a Nashville rooftop bar that landed mere feet from a police officer). So it was fitting that he made his local debut as a stadium headliner Thursday, selling out the first of two nights at U.
S. Bank Stadium, the biggest stage in town. The 31-year-old Tennessee native — who has occupied the Top Country Albums chart for 151 weeks total, second only to Garth Brooks’ 173-week record — wasn’t new to the Vikings stadium in Minneapolis, as he performed a 90-minute opening set for Eric Church there in June 2022, which he mentioned early on in the show.
But he was much better, and bigger, Thursday night. He performed on an expansive stage, complete with a phallus-shaped catwalk that extended far onto the stadium floor and Taylor Swift-sized screens that mostly focused on close-ups of Wallen for the cheap seats. He wrapped the first hour of his show playing four semi-acoustic songs — including his cover of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” and “Lies Lies Lies,” a brand-new song presumably from his impending fourth album — on a second stage at the opposite end of the stadium.
A large part of Wallen’s massive success is his savvy, .
