Kelsea Ballerini Dazzles at her Los Angeles Arena Headlining Debut
“I love that you love country music, LA,” said Kelsea Ballerini onstage in Los Angeles, in support of her latest album, PATTERNS.
Now a decade into her career, Ballerini’s music is a masterclass in country-pop magic, and she’s continuing to rise. Currently on her first headlining arena tour, Ballerini performed to a packed crowd of sequin dresses and cowboy hats at Crypto.com Arena this past Friday, 21 March 2025. When Ballerini’s entrance song — Man! I Feel Like a Woman! by Shania Twain — filled the arena, the crowd screamed, jumped to their feet, and danced as the arena lights dimmed.
The show opened with a dreamy performance of Patterns, during which she sat atop a pile of luggage far back on the stage. During the next song, Baggage, she used stage visuals and pyro to create the illusion of burning the luggage down. The track, written about tearing down emotional walls and taking on new beginnings, came to life as one of the best performances of the night. She marched down the catwalk for this punchy, upbeat performance, and asked the audience to chant the final lyrics of the song — her invitation for them to tear down their emotional walls for the night too.
The bulk of Ballerini’s show can be described as tearjerking, in both happy and sad ways. The ultimate comfort song, This Time Last Year, saw Ballerini prancing around the stage like a girl dancing alone in her bedroom. She dedicated it to everyone who, like her, was proud of their growth throughout the last year. “It’s gonna be okay,” one of the song’s lyrics, felt like a warm hug as it echoed through the venue. Meanwhile, she belted out cries of heartbreak on Mountain With a View, which invoked cathartic screams from the crowd from just its first note.
The tear-jerking, comforting yet gut-wrenching, genre of the show also encompassed Ballerini’s two latest setlist additions: Future Tripping and Cut Me Up from the newly released PATTERNS (Deluxe). Although brand new to both the show and her discography, she performs them as if she’s had years to master them. While the former is quirkier and the latter is more sincere, both capture the “smile through the tears” feeling — which is what Ballerini does best.
When she wasn’t bringing the crowd to tears, Ballerini brought the fire. She turned up the heat with Miss Me More, her confident, vengeful biggest hit that showed why fans have affectionately nicknamed her “Sass-erini.” The female friendship anthem, IF YOU GO DOWN (I’M GOIN’ DOWN TOO) — in which Ballerini comedically vows to keep her best friend’s most criminal secrets — brought the most energy as attendees danced around with their best friends. Ballerini maintained the energy with hole in the bottle, before which she declared, “I know a Friday night hates to see this song coming!”
The biggest surprises of the night weren’t any of Ballerini’s sequin-studded outfit changes or the breathtaking sunset stage visuals during First Rodeo (although they make good runner-ups). First, it was a special appearance by Aly & AJ, who joined Ballerini on stage for a performance of Potential Breakup Song. Then, it was Ballerini’s acoustic guitar cover of Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, sung during her rotating surprise song slot on the setlist, reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s tours.
When Ballerini wasn’t showcasing her vocal prowess, she was having heart-to-heart conversations with her audience. Before a stripped-down performance of Beg For Your Love, Ballerini, 31, told the crowd that she’s become more confident and assertive in her thirties; instead of waiting and begging for love, she said, she’s creating it herself. In another touching moment, she congratulated a fan who brought a sign saying she had a baby nine days before the show. “How are you feeling? Like a queen? Like a superwoman? You’re a badass,” Ballerini told her, sounding less like an artist and more like a proud friend. From the other side of the arena, a fan shared his coming out story with Ballerini, who got down on her knees and put down her mic to respond to the fan personally. These interactions between songs displayed the true magic of Kelsea Ballerini: Because she’s unafraid to be vulnerable in her music, her fans are unafraid to be vulnerable with her, too.
The main show concluded with How Do I Do This, a perfect closing song about getting back on your feet after heartbreak. Once the confetti that erupted during this song had settled to the floor, Ballerini returned to the stage for her encore, Penthouse. She faced the crowd solo for this final performance, with the stage lights dimmed and visuals turned off, accompanied by only a piano. Penthouse featured Ballerini’s most powerfully painful lyrics of the night, and the crowd sang along to every word. Mid-song, Ballerini paused to glance around the crowd with genuine awe and disbelief — as if thinking, ‘I made it.’
Ballerini’s recent stop in LA may have been her first as an arena headliner, but it certainly won’t be her last. At the intersection of country and pop stands Kelsea Ballerini, with the stage presence of a seasoned pop star and the songwriting skills of a country luminary. There’s no telling what she will have achieved by this time next year, but she’ll undoubtedly be singing about it — to bigger and better rooms.
