Stars played “Cowboys Cry Too” and “Stick Season”
Not even the storm delays could dampen the excitement over CMA Fest’s Friday headliner Kelsea Ballerini. The country-pop star closed out the Nissan Stadium festivities with a set that included a pair of duets with her friend and collaborator Noah Kahan.
After opening her set with “Blindsided (Yeah, Sure, Okay)” and “Baggage,” Ballerini brought Kahan onstage to sing “Cowboys Cry Too” from her 2024 album Patterns, before the pair played a duet of his hit “Stick Season.”
It was a busy day for Ballerini: Earlier in the day, she joined CMA Fest sponsor SoFi for an intimate conversation and a mic-less performance of “Baggage.”
“There’s something about chasing really big dreams, where even though you don’t really know what it’ll end up looking like, you have [something] in you that goes, ‘I’m going to figure it out,’” she said about dreaming of headlining CMA Fest.
After playing Nissan, Ballerini closed out the Spotify House, where she performed her biggest hits, including “Penthouse,” “Half of My Hometown,” and “Love Me Like You Mean It,” while her boyfriend, Chase Stokes, watched from the side of the stage.
The CMA Fest performances will be her last before a long-teased break after doing a sold-out arena tour and working as a coach on The Voice. “I need a break!” Ballerini said on Today With Jenna & Friends last week. “And I’ve never been able to say that before, but I really think it’s just time for me to pump the brakes, figure out what’s next, have a summer, what? Go to the beach? Huh? Learn to cook a new meal, hang out with the dogs. So that’s kind of my agenda.”
