Hardy concert review: This headbanging rock star is actually country as hell

Ed Masley, Arizona Republic

Updated February 22, 2024 at 7:18 AM·6 min read

There were plenty of rowdy singalongs to go around when Michael Wilson Hardy took the stage at the helm of his hard-rocking band as the headlining act on the opening night of the Phoenix Open Coors Light Birds Nest concert series at TPC Scottsdale on Wednesday, Feb. 7.

But few singalongs in Hardy's set could hope to be as joyous as the middle-finger-flying, backwoods anthem that remains the highlight of experiencing Hardy in his natural environment — "Unapologetically Country as Hell."

It's Hardy's finest hour, a gospel-flavored ode to "buck blood on my Sunday clothes" that manages to rhyme "If there's tire marks at the Wal-Mart, my Chevrolet's to blame" with "Ever since George Jones died, country ain't been the same."

He's right, you know.

But to the extent that Hardy is, as he says, unapologetically country as hell, it's more to do with country as a lifestyle than a form of music.

Hardy performs at the Phoenix Open Coors Light Birds Nest concert series

Hardy might rep the country lifestyle, but his music is something else

There were two songs with truck in the title in the course of an 18-song performance, one of which, "Wait in the Truck," found Hardy joined by Jax, who dressed for the occasion in an Arizona Cardinals jersey with her name on the back to sing the Lainey Wilson part.

Two songs had redneck in the title, both of which were absolutely brilliant.

On "The Redneck Song," he sets the tone with "Bisquick on the cast iron/ Dip spit on my collar/ I'm Podunk proud and I'll shout it so loud/ You can hear it way down in the holler" long before the lead guitarist quotes the melody to "Dixie."

And he takes that redneck pride to a ridiculous extreme of "Rednecker Than You" (in a good way), establishing his bragging rights with "My town's smaller than your town and I got a bigger buck and bass on my wall / I got a little more kick in my drawl / Y'all, I got a little more spit in my chaw."

Hardy performs at the Phoenix Open Coors Light Birds Nest on Wednesday, Feb. 7.

There were songs about hunting and songs about drinking.

He dedicated "Give Heaven Some Hell" to first responders and military personnel while rocking his signature camouflage trucker hat. He led the crowd in a spirited chant of "USA" after parading around with an American flag he eventually wore like a cape on "God's Country," a chart-topping single fueled by patriotic pride that Hardy co-wrote for Blake Shelton.

But musically speaking? He's only so country as hell, for which I seriously doubt he would be tempted to apologize.

Imagine a Venn diagram where one circle is filled with country music fans and the other is filled with metalheads. The people at that Hardy show? You'd find them in the sweet spot where those circles overlap.

They were shouting along to the headbanging chorus of "Sold Out," the electrifying opener of Wednesday's set, which recently became his first release to top the Billboard Hard Rock chart.

There were several other points in Hardy's set that found him shredding vocal cords while leaning heavy on the metal (or, specifically, nu-metal), from "Kill Sh!t Till I Die" to "Radio Song," which came to a cacophonous conclusion with tortured screaming and smoke cannons firing.

Other songs were more traditionally country. Or more traditionally 21st-century country. "Unapologetically Country as Hell" was probably as close to country as Hardy is likely to get, but "Boots" is clearly cut from fairly country cloth.

What's interesting about a Hardy concert is how often and how well he manages to blur the lines between his brand of country and his brand of heavy metal — see "The Redneck Song" — until it feels like nothing quite so much as Hardy music.

He's what Kid Rock tried so desperately to be with the songwriting smarts to keep evolving.

Hardy took fans on a journey, with a preview of things to come

Hardy closed the concert with his latest single, "Quit!!," which ventured closer to experimental hip-hop with a side of spoken-word poetry slam than unapologetically country or metal.

As a vocalist, it may be safe to say he's no Chris Stapleton. And to be fair, the man said he was losing his voice at one point, asking fans to help him out.

But Hardy's voice has character that definitely adds to the appeal of what he's setting out to do. And he's a truly gifted lyricist. Those qualities have always been a perfect combination. Any Dylan fan could tell you that.

It should be interesting to see if he can keep the country fans — and country radio — on board as he continues to explore his inner hesher or wherever "Quit!!" suggests he's going next.

If Wednesday's show was any indication, then the journey is the destination. And I'm pretty sure he'll get there in a truck.

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Bailey Zimmerman charmed the crowd as Hardy's opener

Bailey Zimmerman is cruising down the fast track to the forefront of the mainstream country universe with the most streamed country debut of all time, “Religiously. The Album.”

All three singles from that album — "Fall in Love," "Rock and a Hard Place” and "Religiously" — hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart.

He did all three, as you'd imagine, at the Birds Nest, dressed in white from head to toe, with gold chains hanging from his neck.

Midway through the set, he told the crowd this was the second time he'd ever played guitar on stage, and he was clearly enjoying the experience as the rhythm guitarist in a Southern-rocking three-guitar army.

He's a charismatic presence with a heavy twang to underscore the country in his music and the looks to be a proper country heartthrob. He even signed off quoting scripture, which will always play well in that world.