Tim McGraw makes emotional plea for unity at debate night concert in Phoenix

Tim McGraw was four songs deep into his Footprint Center concert, having just turned in what proved to be his most impressive vocal of the night on “Tiny Dancer” — the Elton John song — when he took a moment to address the packed arena on Thursday night, June 27.

“My name is Tim,” he said. “Probably better known as Faith’s husband, which I’m glad to take.”

After praising his backing musicians, some of whom have been with him for more than 30 years, he promised, "This part is the most that I'll ever talk in the performance, mainly because I have a wife and three daughters, so nobody's gonna listen to what I say anyway."

On the flip side, he continued, he and Faith Hill are "so proud that we have raised three exceptional, smart, kind young ladies who have agency over themselves and their bodies."

When the applause died down, McGraw added, "And that's the best a dad can hope for for his daughters."

Tim McGraw setlist: Every song he sang on Standing Room Only Tour in Phoenix

Then he addressed these politically turbulent times on the night of what by all accounts was a disastrous debate between the U.S. presidential candidates.

"Tonight, our job is to leave all that bull-(expletive)... outside the doors," he said. "We're all in here together, no matter what you believe. We're all in here together. We're all here to have a good time. We're all Americans. And we all love each other."

And with that, it was back to the music as promised.

McGraw arrived in downtown Phoenix on a tour named for "Standing Room Only," his new album. But he only played the title track from that one, a piano-driven piano ballad about wanting to be somebody worth remembering, "so when I die, there's standing room only."

It's the sort of song that suits his sensibilities, much like "Humble and Kind," a chart-topping ballad he wisely held back for the encore, although as he joked after that one, "It's kind of hard to sing that song in these tight jeans and this tight shirt."

This is true.

He made his first appearance of the evening as a giant silhouette projected on the curtain before walking up a stairwell from beneath the stage, as muscular as you'd imagine while rocking his signature look: Black cowboy hat and boots, tight short-sleeve shirt and tighter jeans, with a big brass buckle on his belt.

He also wore an arm brace, but that's neither here nor there.

McGraw and his band came out rocking with "Truck Yeah," their sound as muscular as the man in a shirt a size or two smaller than one might wear for comfort. For much of the night, they played to that side of their sounds, distortion boxes at the ready, amps on 11, Southern rocking to their hearts delight.

But truthfully, the tender moments hit the hardest, from a suitably romantic "Just to See You Smile" to the understated arrangement of "Cowboy in Me," the song that got the encore off to a beautiful start, and the gorgeous rendition of "Humble and Kind" that followed before he brought the encore to a heartfelt finish with an emotional "Live Like You Were Dying."

Among the songs that rocked a little harder, highlights ranged from "Southern Voice," as inclusive a Southern pride anthem as you'll likely hear a major country artist sing on an arena tour, with references to Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, "Dr. King" and Chuck Berry, all of whom appeared on screen behind him, to the Southern rocking "Real Good Man" that closed the set.

But nothing rocked with more conviction, personality or charm than "I Like It, I Love It," an Elvis Presley-worthy rockabilly number whose guitar riff comes on like a cross between the Faces and the Georgia Satellites as covered by Dwight Yoakam. It was all of that and then some, a crowd-pleasing triumph that hasn't aged a bit since he released it back in 1995.

He also dusted off his Taylor Swift duet, "Highway Don't Care," with Taylor's voice and image piped in via video. That, too, inspired one of Thursday's biggest singalongs, up there with "Something Like That" and "Where the Green Grass Grows."

The crowd was in his corner from the time he hit the stage, bumping with the fans along the catwalk that extended out into the audience, where he spent much of the performance.

Carly Pearce is opening for Tim McGraw in 2024

McGraw's main support Carly Pearce never promised to keep her chatter to a minimum. And we were all the better for it.

She could easily have squeezed another song or two into her all-too-brief performance if she'd talked a little less. But to what end?

Pearce's personality is one of her biggest selling points.

And to be clear, her other selling points include having a hand in the writing of her own material, knowing how to put those songs across with character, conviction and emotion, and looking every bit the mainstream country music icon as we've come on this side of the millennial divide, complete with hair extensions, which we know because she told us.

"I'm gonna tell you a little story," she said. "I'm also gonna be honest with you that I'm pretty sure I just pulled one of my extensions. And if it falls? You, too, can buy my beautiful hair."

Pearce was full of anecdotes, some heartfelt, some hilarious, but all of them establishing a natural rapport that made that huge arena feel a little like a coffee shop while setting up the songs in such a way that they felt more like an extension of personality.

This was especially true of "Fault Line," a song she prefaced with a rambling monologue about her grandfather, who wanted to support her love of country music and ordered a CD collection covering the history of country music from an informercial and presented it to Pearce when she was 12 or 13.

"And I became particularly obsessed with Tammy Wynette and George Jones duets," she said. "And I think about my grandpa and I know from heaven, he's like, 'Yes ma'am, she learned.' But to me, this is what Tammy Wynette and George Jones would've sang in 2024."

You couldn't have asked for a more compelling setup for the old-school country charms of "Fault Line," a tale of domestic dysfunction on which Pearce, accompanied by acoustic guitar and fiddle, brought each chorus to a pathos-laden close with "'Cause we're livin' on a fault line/ And the fault is always mine."

That's country gold right there.

Other highlights of her set included three chart-topping country hits, "Never Wanted to Be That Girl," "Every Little Thing" and "I Hope You're Happy Now." She also covered Faith Hill's "Let's Go to Vegas" for obvious reasons.

As Pearce explained, "I can't think of Tim McGraw without thinking of Faith Hill."

But he gets that a lot.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tim McGraw unleashes 30 years of hits in raucous Phoenix concert