What began as a rainy day with a tornado warning, ended up being the best selling stop along the Little Ass Shed Tour thus far, not to mention it was a sold show weeks in advance. Jelly Roll performed at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Thursday, June 18, along with openers Kashus Culpepper and Ethan Burdick. The evening was about so much more than a show.
As Jelly Roll said this night, music is therapy, music has the power to heal, and music has the power to bring people together, making for a night to celebrate each other for the hardships we are overcoming and a night to make great memories with the people we care about, and even some strangers.
Before shows, I always love talking to different people to how they ended up at a concert. One couple I spoke to were huge fans of Jelly Roll – last night’s show was their 10th concert together. Other groups were there to celebrate graduations and even triumphs in their own sobriety journeys.
Ethan Burdick was the first to step on stage. For someone who is only 21 years old, he is an incredibly talented songwriter and singer. His most recent song “I Get The Picture” has been resonating with a lot of people. The Washington-state native tells the heartbreaking story about watching the person you love moving on while staying behind and holding on to the memories. His music style blends influences like Lizzy McAlpine, Noah Kahan, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, into a unique sound. Ethan did come back out during Jelly Roll’s set with Kashus to sing again.
Alabama native Kashus Culpepper was up next. While he grew up singing in church, but didn’t actually pick up a guitar until he was deployed in Spain. From singing covers at bonfires to writing his own songs. Being from the south where there’s a lot of different music influences, Kashus’ music is a mix of country, soul, blues, folk, and rock. His set featured “Southern Man” and “Alabama Beauty Queen.” Kashus was also included on the 2025 GRAMMY.com 25 Artists to Watch List. Since his start as an artist roughly three years ago, he’s made quite a name for himself very quickly.
Then it was Jelly Roll’s turn. Let’s just say the energy in the arena was special. There were young kids in the crowd as much as there were older couples, with everyone in between. It goes to show you how wide Jelly’s fan base truly is. He opened with an unreleased song, “Hands Up,” which immediately had the crowd on their feet. For saying it was an unreleased song, the crowd was singing along right with him.
It’s no secret that Jelly Roll has been in the headlines lately as the news of his divorce from Bunnie Xo was announced about a week ago. At the show, Jelly briefly spoke about the divorce and put an end to any internet rumors. He made it clear that he and Bunnie have been, and will continue to be, best friends despite the conclusion of their 10-year marriage. He encouraged fans to listen to Bunnie Xo’s most recent episode of her podcast, Dumb Blonde, where she discussed their divorce from her own perspective. Jelly Roll said himself that, “Every word of it is the truth.” In the episode of her podcast, Bunnie stated that their marriage ended on the best possible terms and she will continue to be Jelly’s biggest supporter and advocator. Jelly Roll concluded the topic by saying:
“That will be my best friend forever. This is the only time I will ever speak about it. Bunnie, I love you, baby. Thank you for those 10 years. Thank you for the next 10 years of friendship between and beyond.”
Jelly Roll
All this to say, Jelly Roll’s show at SPAC truly felt like a healing session for so many fans, and arguably, for Jelly Roll, too. I always applaud him for taking the time to interact with fans wherever he goes. This was my fifth Jelly Roll show and he always takes the time to appreciate the fans for attending. He said that concert goers could have had a thousand reasons not to attend, but came anyway and thanked everyone for coming.
Jelly’s set featured a variety of different music across different genres. He performed some of his big hits like “Save Me” and “Need a Favor.” He even performed some older songs like “Creature” and “Bottle and Mary Jane.” What the crowd wasn’t expecting were covers of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys or “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day. There was wide a variety of Jelly Roll’s own music, from his older rap songs to his newer country songs, as well as other iconic songs. All of which, the audience was singing along to.
Whether it’s bringing attention to and celebrating fans who have reached milestones with sobriety, or fans in the back of the venue with a sign stating “Jelly Roll, I am not okay, stage 3 Breast Cancer, but everything is gonna be alright.” He spoke about a young boy named Mason and his sister Mackenzie whom he had met earlier in the day. Jelly shared Mason’s story as he is fighting cancer. Mason even gave Jelly a bracelet that said “Nobody fights alone.” He then sang his hit song “I Am Not Ok” the way it was originally intended to be recorded, meaning Jelly Roll singing with a piano only, and dedicated the song to Mason.
You could tell in the moments when Jelly Roll put the mic down as he looked out to the crowd and simply smiled that it was a special night. Not only for him as an artist, but for the crowd of fans, too. Despite all of the division in the world right now, music brought everyone together last night for an incredible show.
Right now, Jelly Roll is on his own tour, The Little Ass Shed Tour, and also the The Big Ass Stadium Tour Part 2 with Post Malone. His next show in New York is on June 23 in Syracuse as apart of his own tour. However, he will be spending some time in the Northeast for the next few weeks if you want to catch a show. SPAC also has a full summer of concerts from classical music to rock and roll. Check out their events list for upcoming shows.
Setlist: Hands Up, Hard Fought Hallelujah (Brandon Lake cover), Liar, Son of the Dirty South (Brantley Gilbert Cover), Where is the Love/Higher/No Scrubs/Drop it like It’s Hot/I Want it That Way, Friends in Low Places (Dewayne Blackwell Cover), Winning Streak, Son of a Sinner, Amen (Shaboozey Cover), Bloodline/Wake Me Up, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (Green Day Cover), Lonely Road/Take Me Home, Country Roads, Creature, Bottle and Mary Jane, I Am Not Ok, Halfway to Hell, Old Time Rock and Roll (Bob Seger over), Need a Favor, Save Me
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