Concert Reviews

The Chicks and an impressive lineup of openers also added to the contagious country charm Thursday night.

Tim McGraw, with The Chicks, Lady A, 49 Winchester, and Timothy Wayne, at Fenway Park, Boston, July 30, 2026.

Unless you’re James Taylor, who starts a Fenway concert with an acoustic set?

Tim McGraw, that’s who.

McGraw brought his “Pawn Shop Guitar” tour to Lansdowne Street Thursday, and despite the fact that the near capacity crowd was mainlining adrenaline off The Chicks, one of four opening acts, the country icon started his show quietly with stripped down versions of some of his old favorites: “Forget About Us”; “Just to See You Smile,” the song that makes everyone cock their head to the side and say “ahhhhhh”; the song everyone knows, “Where the Green Grass Grows”; the tribute to his wife and fellow country star Faith Hill, “My Best Friend”; the couldn’t-be-more-country-if-it-tried song, “Down on the Farm”; and the tearjerker, “Don’t Take the Girl,” all circa late 1990s.

Then he cranked it up.

McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors ripped into the sultry “Real Good Man” off their 2002 studio album (the first to feature his band) “Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors,” slid into the slightly controversial “Indian Outlaw,” and led the crowd in fan favorite “Something Like That,” which practically shook the rafters on the iconic park.

He then dialed it back a bit, introducing “Song for America,” which his friend Tom Douglas wrote specifically for this year and America’s 250th birthday. It is a lyrical tale that takes you from a Detroit diner to the California coast, a chapel in Vegas and a Texas desert. And it has quite possibly my new favorite chorus that only a country song could pull off — “Bitcoin Jesus in Wrangler jeans, this song is for America, dashboard drummers, girls of summer and six pack dreams.”

Tell me that is not sheer poetry! 

At 59, after double knee replacements and four back surgeries, the one-time would-be lawyer can still command the stage. The chatty McGraw swapped stories in between hopscotching from old to new songs and back again, relying heavily on the songs everyone knows and loves, like “Southern Girl,” “Live Like You Were Dying” — which sent phone cameras skyward for filming — and a wildly fun “I Like It, I Love It,” where The Chicks, all clad in Tim McGraw sweatshirts, joined in. 

But McGraw almost didn’t become a country rock star. He said he was pre-law when he pawned his high school ring for $25 and bought a guitar. He learned a bunch of songs and started playing at a place called “Cock of the Walk” and never looked back. The story plays out in the very autobiographical “Pawn Shop Guitar,” for which the tour is named. 

McGraw told the crowd that in honor of that story and the song, his guitar tech goes out and buys a pawn shop guitar wherever they play and they give it away to someone in the audience. Pointing to a young boy of about 9, McGraw said, “He looks like he could be the next Morgan Wallen,” signed the guitar — which he had played for his eponymous song — then handed it over to the kid wearing the too-big-for-him concert t-shirt. It was a sweet moment.

I’m not going to lie, Tim is showing his age a bit. He admitted to his health issues over the last few years and relied a lot on the audience to take over songs. But he also seemed to relish letting the crowd belt out the biggest lines — like “don’t take the girl” and the chorus of “Humble and Kind” — and the rowdy crowd did not disappoint. They sang, swayed, and catcalled on cue. They were devoted.

There were also moments when the Dancehall Doctors, who are an amazing group of musicians, so tight and fun and loud, seemed to overpower McGraw a bit, where he got a little lost in the mix. But all that said — I’d see him again. He is still the ever charismatic and jacked country boy we all love, and when he sings his 2001 song “The Cowboy in Me,” which some of you might know better from 2021’s TV hit “Yellowstone,” it’s why we love him. In his black hat and too-tight shirt, giant belt buckle and boots, he’s the cowboy in us all.

It appeared McGraw was going to end the show with “Humble and Kind,” written by Boston’s own Lori McKenna, which would have been a great tune for him to go out on — it’s exactly the vibe McGraw has always given off, that he is in fact humble and kind. Instead he got a second wind and as the clouds parted, drifting perfectly across a full moon, he ended the night with “Truck Yeah,” off 2013’s “Two Lanes of Freedom,” a fun little romp through country life. 

Amazing openers

But McGraw, as iconic as he is, was not the only draw Thursday night. For those of you who might not know, attending a country concert is more often than not a serious commitment. It’s an investment of time and vocal cords, and on this night, intermittent rain. McGraw took the stage at about 8:50 p.m., but before that came Timothy Wayne, 49 Winchester, Lady A, and The Chicks, formerly The Dixie Chicks, who were also formerly all but dead to much of country music nation (but never to me!).

The last time I saw The Chicks they still had Dixie in front and they were an opening act for a country artist I cannot for the life of me remember. We went for the Chicks. And let me tell you, Natalie Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer have not missed a beat despite their rocky musical road. And, I’m happy to see, still political.

In 2003, shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq, Maines remarked to a London audience that they did not support the pending war and she was embarrassed that then President George Bush was from Texas — as were The Chicks. The backlash was swift and at times violent, with enough steam to all but derail their careers. Some say the band never fully recovered, but you wouldn’t have known that Thursday.

Not only were the Chicks met with raucous applause when they took the stage, but their hour-long set was a veritable sing-a-long/love fest. When they got to their post-fallout anthem, the clap-back heard round the world — “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice,” from  2006’s “Taking the Long Way” — Fenway thundered.

They sailed through hits from their breakout album “Wide Open Spaces” and follow ups “Fly” and “Gaslighter,” with the title track and “March, March,” showing the world they were not going to be frightened off by a little political fallout (or death threats!). They wrapped the show saying they had one more piece of business, then launched into the also controversial (but for different reasons) “Earl’s Gotta Die,” about an abusive husband and some black-eyed peas.

Before The Chicks, Lady A casually took the stage then spent the next hour ripping through every song you love, from “Downtown” to “Kiss Good Night” to “Hey Bartender” to “American Honey” to the always fun “Fishing in the Dark.” The park might not have been 100% full for Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood, but when they sang “We Owned the Night,” they did — 100%. 

Scott, adorable in her Stevie Nicks t-shirt, was right when she said that if you’re a country music fan, Fenway Park is where you wanted to be Thursday. It was most definitely a night for dashboard drummers, girls of summer and six pack dreams.

Setlist for Tim McGraw at Fenway Park, July 30, 2026:

Acoustic:

• Forget About Us
• Just to See You Smile
• Where the Green Grass Grows
• My Best Friend
• Down on the Farm
• Don’t Take the Girl

Full band:

• Real Good Man
• Indian Outlaw
• Something Like That
• Pawn Shop Guitar
• Southern Girl
• Song for America
• I Like It, I Love It (with The Chicks)
• Felt Good on My Lips
• Mexicoma
• Live Like You Were Dying

Encore:

• King Rodeo
• The Cowboy in Me
• Humble and Kind (Lori McKenna cover)
• Truck Yeah

Chris Stevens

Chris Stevens is a freelance concert reviewer for Boston.com.

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