Darius Rucker at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City MO (2026-07-31)

All I Want
This
For the First Time
Better Place
It Won’t Be Like This for Long
Only Wanna Be With You (Hootie & the Blowfish song)
Beers and Sunshine
Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It
If I Told You
Family Tradition (Hank Williams, Jr. cover with Evan Honer and Austin Williams)
Southern State of Mind
History in the Making
Homegrown Honey
Let Her Cry (Hootie & the Blowfish song)
90’s Medley: I Like It, I Love It / Waterfalls / Poison
Come Back Song
Radio
Hold My Hand (Hootie & the Blowfish song)
Alright

Encore:
Valerie (The Zutons cover)
I Believe in You
No Diggity (Blackstreet w Dr Dre cover)
Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show cover)

EVAN HONER SETLIST

Everything I Wanted
Nowhere Fast
Say Anything
Delusional
Mr. Meyers
Long Road
Pull Me Out
Better Off Lonely
Foolin’ Ourselves >
Too Far Gone
IDK Sh*t About Cars

AUSTIN WILLIAMS SETLIST

Love Through Whiskey
Country Just Like Me
Nothing Left But Leavin’
Country Friday Nights
Crazy Over You
Be Somebody
Wanna Be Saved
90s Rap Mashup

Like a summer playlist come to life, and maybe also a summer school session too, about what makes a good hit song–

Country singer-songwriter and Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker is out on his Sounds of Summer Tour and made an outdoor stop in Kansas City, at a crowded Starlight Theatre, which welcomed the three-time Grammy Award winner with open arms.

Rucker himself is an ideal example of showing how good songwriting can overcome being relegated into just a single musical genre, as he’s more than proven his own success across alternative rock, Country, faith-themed, R&B/Soul, and everything in-between.

As well as his own songs, Rucker worked in several covers (never thought I’d hear him play a Zutons song live) that were other instances of well-crafted hit songs, via his interpretation. All were collected into a jukebox-party setlist that culminated into exactly what the summer concert season is all about.

The set of over twenty songs which resulted in a performance of almost two hours, seemed immediately accessible as he and his band strode out to open with 2008’s “All I Want”, with Rucker wearing an FC Naples soccer shirt (Sporting KC should have sent him one of their kits). The wide stage was framed under a complex and dramatic lighting kit, and location images shown on a large backdrop, beginning with a small-town street with a large water tower that bore Rucker’s name and ‘South Carolina’ on it.

At 60, Rucker’s voice has gently weathered from his over four decades of playing live, but his distinctive baritone remained strong and consistent, adding to the warm authenticity and lived-in feel of so many of the ageless radio hits played.

Rucker worked both sides of the stage early-on during hits, “This” and “For the First Time”, and his songs with themes of love, family, hope and redemption, immediately resonated with the crowd, which could often be seen enjoying themselves on the venue’s screens, intermixed along with the band footage.

The band played tight all evening, but also with a flair and sense of fun that belied any too-serious concentration, and each member had a brief turn in the spotlight, without the need for any dedicated solos.

More than thirty years later, the Hootie and the Blowfish hits still received some of the biggest crowd response (22million+ sold of their album Cracked Rear View will do that), beginning with the sing-along on 1994’s breakthrough hit, “Only Want to Be with You.”

Rucker reminded the crowd how, over two decades ago, he was told by several music execs that a solo transition into Country Music would never work or be accepted. Gauging by the crowd’s reaction on this night, it reinforced how wrong that prediction was, with many of his songs going on to become not only placed in radio heavy rotation but evolved further into modern Country standards.

The biggest sing-along of the evening came at the half-way point, when Rucker brought back both opening acts for a group rendition of the Hank Jr. classic, “Family Tradition.” Following the Hootie hit, “Let Her Cry” (which was really the first country song he ever wrote, Rucker said), the 1990’s were again celebrated with a medley of Tim McGraw, TLC, and Bell Biv Devoe hits from the era. The medley came off as not sounding forced or obligatory, but natural selections for Rucker to want to sing and celebrate what made those songs so unforgettable.

For “Hold My Hand”, Rucker didn’t need to prompt or say anything to the crowd- they sang the main vocal and chorus on their own, leaving Rucker to more of a background role (which, by his smile, he was happy with) and 2008’s “Alright” ended the main set- a happy laid-back earworm which topped the Billboard Hot Country chart upon its original release.

Those last couple joyous songs gave the multi-generational fans in the crowd, some who discovered him in the Blowfish-era and those later via Country Radio, another chance to all group-share the same moment, set to songs that were the soundtrack to their graduations, family outings, loves and losses.

The encore began with the aforementioned Zutons cover (made more popular by the 2008 Amy Winehouse-sung/Mark Ronson-produced version) then things took a New Jack left turn to cover Teddy Riley’s 1996 Blackstreet radio hit, “No Diggity,” another example of a Grammy-winning, chart-topping song impossible to get out of your head.

Of course, the night would end with one of Rucker’s most-recognized songs, his cover of Bob Dylan/Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,” an unfinished sketch tune first recorded by Dylan in 1973, then discovered and eventually finished decades later by OCMS’s Ketch Secor.

Rucker’s version went on to top the Country charts, become his most successful solo song, and as of this May, was recognized to have been streamed more than a billion times on Spotify alone. With the crowd in locked arms with family and friends all swaying and singing, the reach and appeal of his version in particular, was obvious and resulted in sustained applause from a crowd that was not ready to say goodnight.​

Middle act support came from Surprise, AZ native singer-songwriter Evan Honer who lived up to the name of his hometown, both entering and exiting the stage, Benson Boone-style, with a series of flips to and from his center mic. Honer’s breakthrough was his acoustic cover of Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Devil.” He chose to remain independent- self-releasing his debut album, West on I-10, on his college graduation day, followed by Fighting For in 2024, and Everything I Wanted, out last September.

Honer’s style in an easygoing blend of indie folk, Americana and Country, and he and the band were clearly having fun – playing in-step, the group mostly smiling throughout, and fun songs like the closing “IDK Sh*t About Cars” played a bit tongue-in-cheek, and stretched out to engage the crowd and better showcase each of his band members.​​​​​​​