On Tuesday night time Submit Malone introduced his ongoing F-1 Trillion highway present to the biggest rodeo in Texas, mere months after headlining the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for 2 nights in October.
Posty is so extremely well-liked proper now might have opened and closed RodeoHouston in 2025 and he might have bought out each exhibits. The streets round NRG Stadium turned feral simply earlier than sunset because the parking tons reached capability. This was simply the most popular ticket of the season.
The entire world appears to have gone nation — but once more — and the 29-year-old Submit Malone adopted go well with this previous 12 months, debuting a brand new Hank Jr. Jr. persona to curious audiences together with his newest album F-1 Trillion. When the Texas-bred rapper began displaying out in Wrangler denims, turkey feathers, turquoise jewellery, pearl snap shirts, and five-figure cowboy boots, some outlaw gatekeepers and conventional hardliners dismissed him as a scene poser. It’s a well-recognized story, one which Beyonce skilled herself with the Cowboy Carter mission, her personal creative tackle the fluid nation style.
[By the way, the last time Malone was at NRG Stadium he was performing with Beyonce during the halftime show of the Houston Texans ritualistic Christmas Day sacrifice to the Baltimore Ravens. While he was in town, he made sure a lucky bartender had a wonderful Christmas. But I digress.]
Malone’s assortment of expertly crafted pop-country that includes voices as numerous as Billy Strings, Sierra Ferrell, and Blake Shelton had no enterprise being so satisfying. Whereas different acts are aping the spirit of ‘90s hat acts, Malone appears to be blazing a path of his personal, digging into the earnest hooks of early ‘00s pop-country he grew up on and fusing it together with his personal innate expertise for juicy hooks and tobacco-stained wordplay.
“Incorrect Ones” kicked off the proceedings on Tuesday night time with Malone taking a protracted stroll from the nook of the stadium to the starred stage. A rustic-fried model of the buoyant “Circles” adopted, with a barefoot Posty stalking the stage dressed like a RodeoHouston volunteer that simply received house from a protracted shift doing parking zone visitors management.
“I’m doing my finest to not cuss tonight, girls and gents,” joked Malone, clearly trying to make a return down the road. Quickly sufficient, he broke his personal rule and let a couple of tender and complimentary expletives escape via his microphone. Judging by the scale of the gang, RodeoHouston may need regarded the opposite manner.
Malone spent “Pour Me A Drink” strolling the stage crooning together with his trademark pink Solo cup in hand. 2018’s breakthrough single “Psycho” got here reimagined as a hovering anthem, and “White Iverson” started with a couple of tasteful honky tonk piano licks. It’s spectacular how effectively a few of Malone’s earliest singles lend themselves to a pop-country sheen. Even his up to date tackle “Higher Now” sounded prefer it got here straight from Nashville’s Music Row. “By no means Love You Once more” — sans Sierra Ferrell — was lifted by some fiddle from his virtuosic band member Lillie Mae. Her fiddle remained a continuing, regular counter to Malone all night time.
It wouldn’t be a RodeoHouston present with out one other George Strait cowl, and Malone delivered his personal devoted tackle “Ocean Entrance Property,” to the approving screams of 1000’s. With the quantity of Strait covers this 12 months, it wouldn’t be a shock if that is some type of sneaky, conspicuous manner of teasing the return of King George to NRG Stadium in 2026.
“Congratulations” was the largest jolt of the night time, stuffed with manic pyro and crying guitar. It was a victory lap, a proof of idea. Sporting his brand-new RodeoHouston belt buckle, Malone utilized each inch of the stage to ship essentially the most bombastic, uplifting present of 2025.
Setlist
Incorrect Ones
Circles
What Don’t Belong To Me
Pour Me A Drink
Psycho
White Iverson
By no means Love You Once more
Ocean Entrance Property (George Strait cowl)
Higher Now
I Had Some Assist
Rockstar
Congratulations
Sunflower
