Setting some ground rules for his Back to the Honky Tonk tour stop Friday night, Feb. 23, at Little Caesars Arena, Blake Shelton explained that “we are here to celebrate country music” — and pointed NOT to vomit, urinate in the aisle or bring up politics.
“The only BS you gotta listen to tonight is me,” he proclaimed. And that was no BS.
In his first Detroit area stop since 2021, and his first since leaving his marquee gig on NBC’s “The Voice” last year, Shelton was comfortably back in the lane that’s made him one of country’s top superstars during the past 23 years. He is, at his heart, a guy (often) with a guitar, singing earnest, melodic songs that simply connect — deep enough for sales of more than 65 million records (albums and singles) and nearly 30 No. 1 country chart singles.
And Shelton does it without a lot of hoopla; Friday’s hour-and-40-minute show — the second of this leg of the tour and including spirited opening sets by Dustin Lynch and Emily Ann Roberts — was bolstered by a handsome light show and effective visuals on an HD rear-stage screen, but without leaning on pyrotechnics or other uber production elements that are de rigeur for arena and stadium shows. Shelton’s a guy who’s confident his music can deliver, and that it did over the course of the evening’s 26 songs
The concert’s big hook was a mid-show segment he dubbed “the old song portion,” during which Shelton, in his trademark black shirt (which he claimed he hasn’t washed in more than two decades) and jeans, spent a half-hour treating fans to eight early career favorites, starting with 2004’s “Some Beach” and including his first ever hit, the chart-topping “Austin” from 2001, the tear-jerking “The Baby,” which fell out of his set list 20 years ago, and his rocking cover of George Jones’ “Ol’ Red.” The mini-set also included Joe Nichols’ “Who Are You When I’m Not looking,” “Nobody But Me” and “The More I Drink,” while the crowd responded enthusiastically to Shelton’s call for cell phone lights during his torchy rendition of Michael Buble’s “Home.”
That show within a show was bookended by an abundance of favorites from the past decade, kicking off with “Come Back As a Country Boy,” and mixing easy tempos (“Every Time I Hear That Song,” “Sure Be Cool if You Did”) with smooth, soulful fare such as “A Guy With a Girl,” “Don’ What She Likes,” “Sangria” (co-written by Grosse Pointe native J.T. Harding) and occasional rockers like “Neon Light,” “Hillbilly Bone” and “God’s Country.” Shelton’s wife Gwen Stefani was present, via video, for their duet on “Nobody But You,” while backup singer Gwen Sebastian, a Team Blake alumnus from “The Voice,” covered Stefani’s parts during “Happy Anywhere.”
It was not a rowdy night at the honky tonk by any means, but it was exactly what any Shelton fan would want and expect. At one point he spoke about wondering if people would still show up after so many years of coming to town; on Friday it was clear he didn’t have a thing to worry about.
