Hardy’s debut set includes 69,000-strong F-bomb

Hardy, the singer-songwriter who made his RodeoHouston debut Saturday night, told the

crowd he was on “a REVIEW tight leash.”

“I’ve been told I can’t say the F-word tonight,” he said.

If you know, you know. RodeoHouston has always billed itself as a family-friendly event. Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine had to apologize after letting loose a barrage of foul language in 2006 when he noticed his words were picked up by the stadium’s captioning screens. He apologized again when the band returned in 2014. Cardi B kept her performance PG-13 when she was here in 2019.

Hardy got creative. He told the crowd of 69,754 he would count down from three, and everyone would drop an F-bomb together. (Expect complaints regardless.)

Hardy built his resume writing songs for Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton and Morgan Wallen. But he’s become a star in his own right in recent years. He took the stage Saturday in a ball cap and dark-rimmed glasses.

Nu-metal rager "Sold Out" kicked off the 80-minute set. His sound isn't so much countryrock as it is country and rock. Amid his catalog, they mostly live in different realms but touch on the usual common denominators: God and country, beer and heartbreak.

“We’re gonna rock your face off, so get ready,” he promised.

He’s also a hip-hop fan. He told the crowd he was at 50 Cent’s Friday night show and called it “tight.”

Hardy pushed his raspy voice to the absolute edge during the first couple of songs but eventually settled into a more stable growl. “Kill Sh!t Till I Die” was a full-on banger.

“Boots” was a transition song into country material — with sharp rock edges, of course — that included the No. 1 single “Truck Bed” and “Unapologetically Country as Hell.” He plopped a cowboy hat on his head for the first time ever, he told the crowd.

“You guys are witnessing history tonight,” he said.

He veered easily between genres, from new single “Rockstar” to singalong hit “One Beer” and murder ballad “Wait in the Truck.” His set also included the second performance so far this year of “God’s Country,” a No. 1 single for Shelton. Hardy cowrote the song and said it changed his life.