The superstar headlined the magazine’s first-ever music festival, a blowout Fourth of July party on the Hudson River that included powerhouse acts like Gigi Perez and Devon Gilfillian, tons of food and drink, and a rainstorm that couldn’t derail the good vibes
By the time Noah Kahan arrived onstage in Kingston, New York on Saturday, the deluge of rain that poured down on Hutton Brickyards had finally cleared. “We’re gonna play some music that makes you feel just miserable tonight,” he jokingly told the audience. “We want this to be the fucking most depressing Fourth of July of our lives.” That couldn’t have been further from the truth, as Kahan kicked off a triumphant set to celebrate America’s birthday at Stateside, Rolling Stone’s very first music festival.
Kahan is currently on a massive, sold-out stadium tour, supporting his excellent new album The Great Divide, which debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 chart and landed him on the cover of Rolling Stone. It spans 17 tracks that fans have been itching to hear live, and so far the set lists don’t disappoint. Since the tour kicked off in Orlando on June 11, he’s been opening with the album highlight “American Cars,” which felt especially fitting tonight. Kahan tore into the uptempo rocker wearing a red t-shirt, his hair slicked back in his signature man bun (no Ray-Bans, but we’ll take it). And when he sang “You’re here, and we’re so grateful you are,” you couldn’t help but feel like he was talking to the sold-out crowd of 4000, who had braved the weather and were thrilled to take in Kahan in such an intimate space.
