Morgan Wallen turned Montreal into a country-pop hub last night.

Wallen’s rise from small-town Tennessee to chart-ruling superstar before he even turned 30 came not from years of traditional dues-paying in honky-tonks, but from a high-profile two-round campaign on The Voice, where his team was led by Usher and Adam Levine, and some of his most vocal support came from Shakira. Guys, we’re a long way from Waylon and Willie. Most of today’s country stars will happily admit that they grew up listening to pop, rock and hip-hop, as did their fans. Authenticity does not mean what was before.

It was in no way acknowledged on stage Saturday night, but the incident that happened in early 2021 will always be a part of Wallen’s story. At the end of a three-day bender, Wallen reportedly used the N-word while driving home late at night with friends in Nashville. A neighbor caught the moment on his phone, TMZ quoted it, and the story exploded.

Career-wise, Wallen has largely overcome his controversies. Despite official censure from the country’s establishment, the fallout from the incident caused sales of Wallen’s then-current album, Dangerous: The Double Album, to skyrocket from an already astronomical level. To his credit, Wallen apologized, issued a statement asking his fans not to defend him, and made donations to a number of black cultural groups. The incident occurred in February; by October 2021, Wallen’s songs were back on playlists, and for all practical purposes, it was as if the entire episode never happened.

So what does Wallen Nation think about this? This reviewer interviewed several people as they left the Bell Center on Saturday night, and it shouldn’t come as a shock that in a room full of rowdy Morgan Wallen supporters – people who paid very good money to be there – shelled out for the goods and showed absolutely every sign that they had a good time – the answers, as a rule, took a certain tone. One answer may be representative: “I wish he didn’t do it,” said Lynn, 23, of Montreal. “But who has never done something stupid? And he apologized. What else can you ask?”

Saturday’s three-act bill was not the traditional “stars plus opening acts” scheme (though that, of course, was that), but rather a community of rising stars, of which Wallen proved to be the most famous. Ernest’s middle set was probably the most traditional country, with a prominent emphasis on significant pedal steel guitar and frequent exhortations like, “Y’all want to hear some country music?” (Unsurprisingly, the collective answer was always yes.) Ernest’s full name is Ernest Keith Smith; could his professional choice to use a mono moniker be a subtle nod to old-school country legend Ernest Tubb? The elderly among us can only guess.

The all-important eye test, of course, with Ernest and, exponentially, with Wallen, revealed that virtually everyone in the building knew all the words to every song. This reviewer hasn’t seen audience investment and depth of knowledge on this scale since the heyday of the Tragically Hip. Even last-place finisher Bailey Zimmerman, limited to a short seven-song set, got the entire house to help him with his quadruple-platinum Canadian Rock and a Hard Place without any prompting.

Wallen, in the middle of his One Night at a Time tour (and yes, attendance records are being broken at virtually every stop), worked the stage with the confidence of a man well beyond his years, seamlessly navigating a genre mix that included hard rock, Adele trap ballads, trap/R&B and, yes, modern country. Remarkably, his songs dedicated to women demonstrate an appreciation that cannot be faked—at best, it borders on sophistication. However, as the two-hour set progressed, a certain similarity crept in, perhaps due to Wallen’s admitted fatigue from playing seven shows in the last 10 nights.

But something else also comes to light: Wallen’s current album, One Thing at a Time, had no fewer than 49 collaborators. Take a moment to dig into that number: The album, for all its emotional appeal among fans, is the product of Nashville’s ruthlessly efficient machine. The man with his name on the cover only wrote 14 of the 36 songs, which is a bit of a contradiction to the artist’s overall “This is the real me” attitude. Even his biggest hit and first popular song, “Last Night,” was written by four people, none of whom were named Morgan Wallen. Does it matter? Millions will say no. But it’s hard not to feel like we’re a long way from knowing the real Morgan Wallen.

Random Thoughts

Origin stories are of great importance in the country. All three artists took the time Saturday night to verbally recount how they ended up on stage in front of us, and the feedback was pretty similar, with their message being, “Chase your dreams and don’t listen.” to the haters.”

Sweet Caroline’s unlikely journey shows no sign of ending. The song, which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard on its original release in 1969, has grown organically over time to become an undisputed favorite sing-along at large-scale public events. When it came over the PA before Ernest’s performance, the opening bars were enough to cause a roar; by the time the chorus rang out, it looked like the Habs had just won the Cup in overtime. Neil Diamond is smiling somewhere.

Morgan Wallen’s mullet status: none. When Wallen first got his iconic haircut—he says it was inspired by an old photograph of his father—it was a statement of both personal and cultural identity, and it coincided with his meteoric rise. Now he has his hair cut. Was anyone interested? Not that you’d notice.

Approximate number of cowboy hats worn in crowd of approximately 15,000: approximately 5,000 Total number of cowboy hats worn on stage: zero. (Although there was a mohawk.) This distinction in headdress will certainly be the subject of careful academic study, if it has not already been done.

At least one of the country’s traditions is in a vital state. Drinking songs, defined here as songs whose lyrics prominently featured alcoholic beverages, their consumption, the places where they were consumed, and their social, domestic, and romantic implications, were beyond the Saturday night motif. They were dominant. It’s no wonder that Wallen’s full show brought him closer to his first No. 1 selling hit in the country, 2018’s Whiskey Glasses. Could it really be something else?