Post Malone and Jelly Roll fire up PNC Park

In the past few years, the Billboard charts have seen a new — or maybe old — phenomenon that’s changed things up. Where hip-hop and electropop once hung around the top 10, country has begun a steady campaign of domination. Acts like Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan and Shaboozey have broken records and sustained massive hits. It’s even brought artists from other genres into the fiddle-and-steel-guitar spirit, including Beyonce and — man of the hour — rap/pop hitmaker Post Malone.

“Posty,” as his fans call him, rose to prominence about a decade ago with rap-pop hits including “White Iverson” (with hometown rapper Mac Miller) and “Congratulations,” and he’s been dabbling in other styles since then. His latest effort is the 2024 album “F-1 Trillion,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and featured a cavalcade of country’s current stars. It was also the prominent feature of the setlist at his Big Ass Stadium Tour, which made a stop at PNC Park on Thursday night.

But — as one of the album’s hit singles would attest — he had some help. The show’s first opener was the much more authentically country Sierra Ferrell, a dynamite singer and fiddler who brought the Appalachian folk-country of her West Virginia roots to bear on an energetic set. While her cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” (famous sung by Janis Joplin) was good, it would be great to hear her cover a June Carter Cash song or two — her charismatic twang would fit in well. The highlight of her set was the all-out “Fox Hunt,” a song that would tempt anyone to dig into her catalog.

Next up was Jelly Roll. Well, actually, next up was Pat McAfee, who made a surprise appearance to introduce Jelly Roll. Not too surprising, since the recent country star made an appearance at McAfee’s recent live show at PPG Paints Arena to sing a few tunes. McAfee, a Plum native, extolled the virtues of Pittsburgh before going into a performance of Steelers game staple “Renegade” by Styx, which Jelly Roll finished off once he appeared onstage.

That began a set of songs that vacillated between dark and country-rock heavy and more downbeat, inspirational tunes. “Heart of Stone” and “Get By” both skewed to the more fiery side, with his crowing voice soaring and mixing with his trio of backup singers.

“It’s my first time playing where the Pirates play, y’all, this is a big deal!” he yelled.

“Liar” was a highlight of his set and started with snappy guitar and his desperate growl accentuated by jets of fire at the chorus. He rocked out on “Son of a Sinner” but then took a moment for sincerity before “I Am Not Okay.”

“I probably shouldn’t be this honest in front of this many people, but I didn’t think that I was going to live long enough to see this. I assumed I was going to die at an early age of an overdose or spend the rest of my life in prison. But God had a different plan for me, Pittsburgh!”

He brought a message of love, hope and redemption to the stage. Honestly, he would make a great preacher.

“I believe in the power of music,” he said before singing the gentle and genuine “I Am Not Okay.” Even churchier was “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which used his angelic choir of backup singers to great effect. Less effective was a medley of crowd-pleasing hits, including “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Party Up” by DMX and “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus. But the audience loved singing along.

He wrapped up with “I Need A Favor” and “Save Me,” both featuring the full force of his Nashville vocals and an extra dose of hope.

Then came Post Malone.

His two-hour set featured about 25 songs, a lot of fire and the blending of several genres. He brought the same energy to all of them. He exploded into the show with “Texas Tea” and “Wow” with plenty of scream-singing, showing off from the band, strobe lights and fireworks.

Unassuming in plaid shirt and jeans, Post Malone had a swagger that showed how much he enjoys performing. Even in his somewhat mellow-voiced rap-pop songs, such as “Better Now,” he and the band turned up the heat.

He paid tribute to his openers. A fawning Jelly Roll, who said multiple times how he would gladly open for Post Malone for the rest of his career — came out to sing the misfit anthem “Losers.” The twin guys’ raspy voices fit in fairly well together, and the song is a pretty representative hybrid; country with a beat, and surprisingly melodic. At the end, glittering ribbons of gold fireworks repeatedly streamed into the sky.

After Post Malone came out solo to play a heartfelt and haunting “Feeling Whitney” on guitar, Sierra Ferrell joined him to sing “Never Love You Again,” a duet they recorded for “F-1 Trillion.”

“You are a vision of beauty tonight,” he told her as she joined him onstage.

While he did play hits from throughout his discography, that recent album did feature heavily. Highlight “M-E-X-I-C-O” was a hyper-speed fiddle adventure that Post Malone genuinely seemed to enjoy. “Pour Me a Drink” was a honky-tonk party as well.

This being his first stadium tour, the 30-year-old singer was thankful over and over again to his fans for sticking with him over the past decade.

His radio hits also made the setlist: the breezy “Circles,” a perfect summer song, got him to dispense with the screaming and let the mellow tone of his voice shine through. “White Iverson” and “Psycho” were both melodic and surprisingly high energy. Then “Rockstar” had the whole band involved, really acting out the song’s name.

The transition back to country for “I Had Some Help” — a huge hit featuring Morgan Wallen — was a bit jarring, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Then he sang a very country-fied version of “Sunflower,” a megahit that is currently the sixth most streamed song on Spotify. It was strange to hear the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” soundtrack song, which Post Malone made with Swae Lee, ornamented with steel guitar and fiddle. At the end, a bloom of yellow fireworks burst overhead.

Heading to a smaller stage lit in white-blue on the field, Post Malone closed out the show with early hit “Congratulations,” taking the somewhat subdued tune to new heights with the aid of the band and so many flashing lights.

“You know, there were so many times in my life when no one wanted to give me a shot,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many times they called me a one-hit wonder.

“It’s so awesome, the love and support and heart that you’ve all shared with me over these past 10 years, ladies and gentlemen,” he added. Then he gave a passionate and motivational plea to the crowd to follow their dreams and defy expectations, before ending his set with more tremendous jets of flame.