Feb 13, 2026, Rogers Place, Edmonton, Country! Country! Tour
By Yuri Woodfall, Western Lead, Photojournalist, Sound Check Entertainment
If you ever wondered what would happen if a country show, a rock show, and a tailgate party all collided inside Rogers Place and agreed to be extremely loud about it – Friday night delivered as Hardy’s Country! Country! Tour rolled through Edmonton, and it didn’t wait for the headliner to start.
McCoy Moore opened the night and quickly turned the early arrivals into an actual crowd instead of a collection of people finding seats. His set had a laid-back confidence that worked perfectly as the on-ramp to the chaos ahead, easing people in while steadily raising the energy in the building and setting a solid foundation for what was coming next.
Then came the spark plug.
Three-time CCMA Award winner Cameron Whitcomb – taking home Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year, the Global Country Achievement Award, and Fans’ Choice – ran onto the stage and immediately ripped off a clean backflip like gravity was optional, instantly telling the building this wasn’t going to be a casual opener. He wasted no time launching into “Hundred Mile High” and “Bad Apple,” and from there never really stopped moving. “Gasoline & Matches” and “Problem” had the floor bouncing early, while the unreleased “You and Me” drew one of the loudest reactions of his set – always a good sign when the crowd already knows the words to something they technically shouldn’t yet. “The Hard Way” kept the momentum rolling before Whitcomb threw a curveball with a surprisingly fitting cover of “Creep.” By the time “Pretty Little,” “Quitter,” and the explosive closer “Medusa” wrapped things up, the arena had gone from warming up to fully activated. Nobody was sitting anymore, and the energy level was already headliner high… and the headliner hadn’t even appeared.
At 9:00 sharp, HARDY walked out and immediately stomped on the gas with “Bottomland” into “Country Country.” The tone was set instantly – loud guitars, pounding drums, and zero interest in easing the crowd into anything. “UNAPOLOGETICALLY COUNTRY AS HELL” and “JACK” turned the floor into a shouting match between thousands of fans and the stage, and when “.30-06” landed, the show fully crossed from country concert into southern-fried rock show. By “BOOTS” and “Good Ole Boy,” everyone understood the rules: sing everything, jump when told, and accept that your voice would not survive the night.
The middle of the set became a massive group therapy session set to guitars. “ONE BEER,” “Favorite Country Song,” and “SIGNED, SOBER YOU” had the entire arena belting lyrics like they were written about someone in the room. Phones lit up Rogers Place during “Girl With a Gun” and especially “A ROCK,” where the night briefly shifted from rowdy to reflective without losing its weight. The emotional peak hit during “wait in the truck,” a moment where the entire building seemed locked into the story unfolding onstage.
Right when the crowd settled into that emotional groove, HARDY yanked it back into chaos. “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL” exploded into “PSYCHO,” and suddenly the pit looked more like a rock show than a country crowd. His cover of “God’s Country” felt enormous in the arena, and “SOLD OUT” might have been the loudest audience moment of the entire night -thousands screaming the chorus back at him.
After the not-very-convincing goodbye, HARDY came back swinging. The encore — “JIM BOB,” “REDNECKER,” and the detonating closer “TRUCK BED” – turned the last few minutes into pure catharsis. Confetti flew, voices cracked, and strangers celebrated together like they’d all just passed the same test.
HARDY doesn’t blend country and rock – he treats them like they were never separate in the first place. The show moved between party, therapy session, and full rock concert without ever breaking momentum. By the end of the night, nobody cared what genre it was supposed to be. They just knew they’d been part of something loud, honest, and ridiculously fun… and judging by the noise leaving Rogers Place, Edmonton wasn’t ready for it to end.
