This is how he rolls
With country concerts, you tend to get your money’s worth. The headliners like to have not one but two opening acts, and they are often stars-on-the-rise, so it’s a winning situation all the way around. Here’s a perfect example: Cole Swindell is on his first headlining tour, and he’s got two should-be-mighty-fine acts with him. Chris Janson, like Swindell, was known as a killer songwriter before he became a recording luminary in his own right; he wrote Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah,” for instance, before hitting it big on his own with his single “Buy Me a Boat.” Lauren Alaina turned her runner-up status on “American Idol” into a solid recording career, with her second disc, “Road Less Travelled,” released a year ago. The title track of that CD hit the top of the Country Airplay chart, and she reached the top 5 of the Hot Country chart with her Kane Brown duet “What Ifs.” So fans going to Swindell’s concert Saturday at Mohegan Sun are going to get plenty of good country before the star attraction even hits the stage. And he’ll bring with him his ridiculously long list of hit singles, including “Chillin’ It,” “Flatliner,” “You Should Be Here” and “Middle of a Memory.” Heck, maybe he’ll even trot out some of the songs he cowrote that others recorded, like Luke Bryan’s “Roller Coaster” and Florida Georgia Line’s “This Is How We Roll.”
Cole Swindell, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mohegan Sun Arena; with Chris Janson, Lauren Alaina; $29-$49; 1-800-745-3000.