Kelsea Ballerini shined in her Fiserv Forum cross country debut

On Saturday night, Country Star Kelsea Ballerini played Ringleader for an arena-sized girls’ night at the Fiserv Forum, and on the heels of her most successful album to date, she’s hitting her stride.

The show was the fourth night of Ballerini’s first headline arena-level tour, which she affectionately referred to as her “Big Girl Arena Tour.” While she’s certainly had her share of big shows in Milwaukee to date, Momentum was on her side Saturday night and she had a crowd ready to party.

“I played the rave and there were 3,500 people at that show,” Ballerini said early into her set. “Tonight I am so proud to say that there are over three times that number here.”

That was certainly no exaggeration; Ballerini was greeted by a very full seating area on Saturday, probably an encouraging sign in the first week of the tour. They also came ready to sing and dance, fired up from the moment Shania Twain’s “man I fancy a woman” played over the PA to welcome everyone to the show.

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The lights would drop and ballerinas would appear from the back of the stage for the title track from “Patterns”. Her newest material would be the focal point of the night, with two-thirds of the album making its way into the set list, sprinkled in among Ballerini’s greatest hits. While some performers may feel pressure to deliver her situation, Ballerini had a confidence in her performance that truly showed her star quality. It may have helped that boyfriend Chase Stokes was spotted watching the show from the soundboard.

Addressing the Fiserv Forum crowd, she was personable as ever, regularly using her time between songs to be grateful and inspirational. She spoke proudly of where “patterns” have taken her, fittingly as an introduction to “this time last year.” During the night, she took a selfie with a fan’s phone and said hello to a fan who brought a meet-and-greet photo from 2017, and also received a scrapbook from a fan, which she opened on stage.

A fan also asked her to write her next tattoo on a sign with an inspirational quote, to which Ballerini replied “Oh God. My brain right now. It’s like when someone asks what your favorite song is and all you can think of is ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.’ ” They would eventually land on “Love Love” before Ballerini would warn her that the tattoo is actually permanent. That was the charm she brought to every interaction on Saturday, taking her moment as the brightest name on the marquee.

When she wasn’t drawing tattoos or taking pictures, she led singalongs up and down the Fiserv Forum stage, often from the catwalk in the middle of the arena. Early hit “Love Me Like You Mean It” saw her vocals resonate with thousands of fans and “if you go down (I go down too)” fans would scream along too. After declaring that “hard January hates to see me coming,” wine-drinking tribute “Hole in the Bottle” received one of the loudest reactions yet. At the midway point of the show, Ballerini looked unfazed and definitely hitting her stride.

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From a production standpoint, the show would often see Ballerini in the air on platforms with a screen falling down in front of her from time to time. She would also quickly change by falling through a hole in the middle of the stage, only to reappear after short intervals. She would dance with a chair for “We Broad Up” and later mentions that this was the “female rage” part of the show. This segment of the night would also include “two things” where she would walk the catwalk with glowing balls falling from the lighting rig plane over the Fiserv Forum audience.

Ballerini would use the back half of the show to not only deliver the hits, but give her a chance to bring things down a notch. She sat on the floating platform for a full version of “Interlude,” complete with the lyrics on the screen in front of her, and later dives into her collaboration with Noah Kahan, “Cowboys Cry Too,” complete with a new second verse instead of Kahan’s vocals .

She then went solo with an acoustic guitar for “Homecoming Queen”, which has yet to be played on the tour. She explained that she had several songs she wanted to play that weren’t on her set list, and this gave her a chance to perform material she hasn’t done in a long time. While he delivered a cool moment for the Milwaukee crowd, the move felt just a little reminiscent of the secret acoustic songs that Taylor Swift added to each night of her “Epochs” tour. But if the end result is a unique moment for each crowd on tour, Ballerini might not be too much to feel inspired.

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Things would ramp up again, but only after a version of “Peter Pan” that saw the whole band come to the front of the stage together. Ballerini was flanked by a pair of backing singers throughout various points of the night, and the song gave them a chance to unite for a three-part harmony that rang out especially well with the Fiserv Forum Acoustics (and, of course, the audience singing along to every word.) They would continue into “I Would, Would You,” mashed up with Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.” She quickly recognized being able to support women in country music by welcoming openers Marynn Taylor and Sasha Alex Sloan on tour with her. Then it was time to bring the house down.

Dating anxiety anthem “How Do I Do It” closed the main part of the set, with the ballerina falling into the hole in the stage to signal the end of the set. Excitement be damned though as she was about to tell the crowd she had more song left when she fell to the floor with the lights going out. There was one last singalong to be had in “Penthouse” and the crowd hung on every word again. There was also an important faux pas.

Ballerini exclaimed “Goodnight! Thanks Minneapo-Nope…Milwaukee! ” before laughing his way through the closing notes of the song (Minneapolis was the previous night’s show.) If that’s the biggest blunder of a 90-minute performance that saw her cover every bit of the stage she could, with multiple costume changes and choreography, so be it.

From the looks of Saturday Night’s Show, it’s very clear that Kelsea Ballerini’s first “Big Girl Tour” definitely won’t be her only “Big Girl Tour.” Indeed, she has the makings of a generational talent in country music, and those superstar qualities shone non-stop on Saturday night. With a current stint on “The Voice” as a judge, Ballerini’s stock only continues to rise, and the Milwaukee crowd got to witness her in the midst of her ascension Saturday.