Jones Beach Theater looked more like the Wild West this weekend when cowboy-boot clad fans of country star Blake Shelton came out for the first leg of his “Ten Times Crazier” tour.
Shelton opened with the fun and upbeat number “It’s All About Tonight” before playing a medley of songs from early in his career. He put on a cowboy hat to “better connect with the old days” to sing “Some Beach,” a single from his 2004 album, “Blake Shelton’s Bar & Grill.”
The Oklahoma native joked with his fans, who call themselves “BSers,” that his manager told him to stray from talk of “redneck” things such hunting for his New York performance, an anecdote that set up his rebellious song, “Kiss My Country Ass.”
Recalling how R&B star Usher, a fellow judge alongside Shelton on NBC’s The Voice, covered one of his songs for a benefit concert in Oklahoma, Shelton jokingly tried to cover Usher’s “Yeah” before segueing into “Hillbilly Bone.”
Songs he sang ranged from playful, rustic numbers like “The More I Drink” to sweeter, more intimate songs like “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” and “Honey Bee.” He also played a few songs from his recently released album, “Based on a True Story.”
Two songs he performed he regards as the most important in his life, including “Over You,” a song that he usually sings with his wife, county singer Miranda Lambert, and his 2001 breakout single, “Austin.”
The most memorable moment of the night was his passionate rendition of Michael Bublé’s “Home,” during which he asked the audience to sing along and sway their phones so that he could get a taste of what it’s like to be Taylor Swift.
The artist ended the night by getting the crowd dancing with his country-style version of “Footloose” before concluding with the powerful, “God Gave Me You.”
