Brantley Gilbert derails at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, MI

Saginaw, MI (March 22, 2024) – On a cold, snowy day in Michigan, Brantley Gilbert and his posse of brothers makes a tour stop in Saginaw at the Dow Event Center for the fourth night of the Off The Rails Tour. The 37 city tour travels across the country entertaining the BG Nation throughout 2024, wrapping up in Sparks, NV on August 3rd. Along for the ride, Gilbert is bringing Demun Jones, Struggle Jennings and Dylan Marlowe out for his opening slots.

Opening the show in Saginaw is the straw-hat wearing country rapper Jones, as he works the stage back and forth making contact with his people. Performing new songs “Southern Son Rising” and “Rahh” from an upcoming album, Demun also includes “Feeling Good” and “Red White Blue.” Joining Demun on stage this evening is his drummer, Austin and guitarist, Ryan. Before getting too far into the show, Demun gets the show started in the proper fashion with Ryan playing the “Star Spangled Banner” while the crowd stands at attention with their hands over their hearts. Wrapped up inside a 20 minute set, Jones makes sure to give a shout out to Kevin Zink, and his world famous The Machine Shop, just down the road in Flint, MI.  He also credits the people of Michigan, “as a Georgia boy up here in this snow. It’s cold up here for us southern boys.”

Country wrapper Struggle Jennings was next to take to the stage while he sings about “Alligator Boots” and adding the Elvis Presley cover “Blue Suede Shoes.” The adopted grandson to the legendary country outlaw, Waylon Jennings has made a large group of followers due to his real-life battling songs that many can relate to like in the song “Road I Came” where he sings of looking forward and not what is behind him. Jennings is joined on stage by Caitlynne Curtis as they perform their #1 hit “God We Need You Now.”

Similar to Demun Jones, Struggle and Caitlynne also experience some technical difficulties with their in-ear monitors and are unable to hear anything. After a short moment, they brave it up and continue on with “Shoulda Woulda Coulda.” Before exiting off stage, Jones professes the challenges he has endured with his return to society from prison seven years ago and the hard work he has gone through to get custody of all his kids back and how his daughter turned her life around and graduated high school with a 3.9 GPA. Talking to her now every night from college, she reminds him that his life is not over. He then tells the crowd that they need to go home, wake up in the morning and have the best life ever. Jennings then exits the stage as the crowd applauds.

With the crowd already pumped up with enthusiasm, Dylan Marlowe comes out to help solidify the mood in the crowd and make sure they are ready for Mr. BG himself. Dylan jumps up on stage with the crowd screaming for his 2021 release “I’ll Keep The Country” before “Empty Shotgun (Mr. Mechanic). Labeled a prospect for the next up and comer in country music for superstar status, Marlowe showcases his songwriting skills with his first #1 single as a songwriter with Jon Pardi’s “Last Night Lonely.” With the crowd singing along, Dylan adds his current single “You Did It Slower” before finishing up his 40-minute set with his first number one single, “Boys Back Home.”

With the room sitting in darkness and random music playing throughout the arena, the air begins to fill with fog as you begin to feel the electrified energy building. When the room goes silent, the crowd amplifies their volume as Brantley Gilbert approaches the stage with his latest single and tour signature “Off The Rails.” The room continues to fill with fog, while lights and pyro explode through the Dow Event Center. The crowd is just as explosive as the energy on stage which later will also help fuel the stamina in Brantley and his band. Keeping the high enthusiasm going, the band plays on with “Kick It In The Sticks” before realizing it is “The Weekend.”

Taking a break to speak to the crowd, Brantley mentions that he has been working on some new music for the past couple of years. He is doing some things differently this time with the music. Instead of the people sitting on their asses waiting to click a button for new music, he is going to play it first for the people that buy tickets and come out to support BG Nation. Gilbert has always worked with the military, and he is now joining up with a new project called Plant It America, working with the farmers. He has written a new song for it called “Dirty Money,” that he performs, with Dylan Marlowe.

Keeping the momentum going, the band carries along with “Small Town Throwdown” and “My Kind Of Party,” when Brantley claims that if you thought you were coming to a relaxing laid back show, “You Fucked Up. I have just come back from two rock tours, so it’s going to be a bit rowdy tonight.” As the crowd cheers with approval, he continues “but standing backstage, we agreed we have to have some balance in the show. So we have added a love song here with “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do.””

Brantley admits to having a few pet peeves lately that includes: 1) no one gets punched in the face anymore, and 2) we have a bunch of keyboard warriors hiding behind cell phones and laptops talking shit and stirring the pot. When he had had enough, he tried getting on his computer page and couldn’t get in because of the password. After asking his management about it, they explained to him that it was a liability for him to be on there and respond. So, he took it another direction and wrote a new song instead, “Bury Me Upside Down.” The highlight of the show comes when the video cameras show a young girl on her father’s shoulders giving the two fingered rock on hand gesture, before flipping off the camera with her middle finger when Brantley claims “the world can kiss my ass.” As the crowd applauds and cheers loudly, Gilbert tells her that he loves her. At the conclusion of the song, you can hear him mumble “that was beautiful.”

Just as Demun Jones did, Brantley Gilbert gives a shout out to The Machine Shop and says that there is where he played his first show in Michigan. Going one up on Demun, Brantley is wearing a cut up sleeveless t-shirt from The Machine Shop on stage tonight. Between the people attending his shows in Flint and his shows in Saginaw, he is convinced that Michigan is plenty full of rednecks and that he should probably be finding property up this way for another hunting playground.

Breaking up a fight, he tells them “we don’t have time for that. Take that Jerry Springer bullshit to the house.” He then proceeds to tell the crowd that he has made some changes in his life as he has matured and met influential people and gotten married and become a father. Two of those people that have changed him, he introduces back to the stage, Demun Jones and Struggle Jennings to help him with another new song, “Me And My House.” As the song concludes, he keeps the two up there to help with another, “Son Of The Dirty South.”

Thanking the military and first responders, he understands that is still not enough for what they do for all of us. But as he has become a father, the Thank You is even bigger now. As he tells his own children, “I am not a hero or the athletes you see on TV. The real hero’s we should be saluting and honoring are the men and women who protect us in the military and first responders.” Gilbert salutes them with “One Hell Of An Amen.” Afterwards, he sends out a salute to Toby Keith with “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue.”

Calling out his guitar tech, Brantley puts him on the spot to show off his guitar skills. While the band jumps into a rock jam with him, Brantley introduces each of them. The nucleus that makes the music for Brantley Gilbert includes: Noah Henson (guitar), Spencer Waasdorp (guitar), Adam Curry (guitar), Delaney Baker (bass guitar) and Ben Sims (drums). After the introductions, they rock out a little more with the Kenny Wayne Sheppard cover of “Heaven Let Your Light Shine Down.”

Finishing up the show….Brantley and his band enforce a good time and to “Take It Outside” and “Read Me My Rights,” as the show ends the same as it began, with plenty of fog, lights and pyro.

The night ended with success as Brantley delivered another phenomenal show with a lot of energy exhausted on the stage tonight. As his maturity has grown, it has turned him into a more sensitive person which has also turned him into a better artist with a broader range to write songs from.

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Although the Brantley Gilbert show appeared to be spot on, there were some weak moments in the show that should have been worked out long before ever hitting the road. The BG Nation deserves better than watching opening acts in the dark as the production teams are going through training seminars while on tour. Many complaints were heard of bad audio and lack of lighting for the opening acts. Tickets are too expensive these days to not be able to enjoy your artist perform when you go to see them live.

Brantley Gilbert setlist:

Off The Rails / Kick It In The Sticks / The Weekend / Dirty Money w/Dylan Marlowe / Small Town Throwdown / My Kind Of Party / You Don’t Know Her Like I Do / Dirt Road Anthem (Colt Ford cover) / Bury Me Upside Down / A Country Boy Can Survive / Country Must Be Country Wide / Me And My House / Son Of The Dirty South / My Kind Of Crazy / What Happens In A Small Town / Stone Cold Sober / More Than Miles / Blue On Black (Kenny Wayne Shepard cover) / Bottoms Up / One Hell Of An Amen / Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (Toby Keith cover) / Heaven Let Your Light Shine Down (Collective Soul cover) / Take It Outside / Read Me My Rights

Brantley Gilbert 

Dylan Marlowe 

Struggle Jennings 

Demun Jones 

Dow Event Center