Page 40 - ION Indie Magazine JulyAugust 2019

At first, I didn’t know what to expect as Cole is a new artist to me. Being
relatively unfamiliar, I did some quick research and listened to his tunes for
three days straight before the night of the concert. Then it was time…lights out
and a thunderous low-end bass rhythm began pounding my chest. “What in the
world?” I was thinking to myself. His name was emblazoned on the back screen
and the crowd began cheering in anticipation, as if willing for him to appear.

For the first song, Cole came out singing a Billy Ray Cyrus tune, “Old Town,” to
the rhythm of the reverberating low-end. He definitely got my attention from
the start! On stage, he owned it! He strutted his stuff for 90 minutes like he was
the Mick Jagger of country music…up and down and back to center stage…all
night long. He was the personification of “Mr. Entertainment!”

Never letting his foot off the gas, Cole performed hit after hit -- such as “Middle
of a Memory,” “Let Me See Ya Girl,” “Chillin' It,” “This Is How We Roll,” and my
favorite, “You Should Be Here,” which is an especially meaningful song for Cole
as it was written as a tribute to his father, William, who died unexpectedly
shortly after Cole had signed a record deal with Warner Music. Cole’s band
sound super tight and performed professionally. I heard one of the members
was an Arizona boy, although I didn’t catch who that was.

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