Review: Morgan Evans at Astor Theatre

Morgan Evans at Astor Theatre
w/ Laci Kaye Booth
Thursday, May 21, 2026

Morgan Evans returned to the land he loves, and Perth loves him back!

If you didn’t know Thursday is the new Friday, where have you been?

The Astor Theatre was a sea of cowboy hats and boots as Morgan Evans kicked off the start of his Steel Town tour in Perth Thursday night. The Aussie-born country singer made the trip from Nashville to bring both the party and a rollercoaster of emotions as he sang about his roots in New South Wales and his journey to fame.

The gig was opened by Texas star Laci Kaye Booth, whose soulful voice brought an old-school country feel to the room.

Her acoustic set made the venue feel more intimate and would not have been out of place somewhere like The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.

She gave an insight into her upbringing and even poked fun at it as she set up songs such as Daddy’s Mugshot about her biological father, as well as an emotional tribute to the stepfather who raised her.

While the acoustics of the venue helped the music carry well, it also created an echo of drunken chatter of people who appeared to be there only for the party aspect of the night, but Booth handled the situation with elegance and didn’t let the rowdiness impact her set.

She even managed to curb those voices into a singalong, finishing her set with an absolute classic as she covered Linger by The Cranberries.

Morgan Evans then made a lively entrance as he opened with one of his new songs, Beer Back Home—a song about how nothing beats grabbing a drink with your mates and the crowd toasted in agreement.

His full band accompanied him throughout, each getting their moment to highlight their skills with plenty of guitars, drums, keyboards and, what would a country song be without the addition of a fiddle or mandolin here and there?

He welcomed the crowd before playing his title track, Steel Town, which covers his story from growing up in his hometown of Newcastle, his experience starting out as a singer and his move to Nashville to pursue stardom.

Though not many in attendance would have been to small gigs at the Cambridge Hotel, his references to his town were relatable to many with the shared experience of growing up in Australia.

After playing fan favourite Kiss Somebody, Evans proved his Aussie roots by stopping midway through Another Drink Coming to do a shoey (because what’s a gig in Australia without one?), which riled the crowd up perfectly in time for his chorus to kick back in.

He kept the crowd going with another fan favourite Love Is Real, then eased into a more mellow tone while opening up about parts of his personal life and public breakup as he showed the hurt in his song Over For You.

He encouraged the crowd to get involved with his new song Letting You Go and even did some crowd work as he talked to people about things they also needed to let go. The personal touch broke the barrier between artist and audience to really bring home the idea that he has a lot of love for the place he came from and the people who helped him get to where he is now.

Evans then broke out the harmonica, and Laci Kaye Booth made a welcome return for a duet performance of their song Two Broken Hearts. Their real-life love for each other was clear as they continued to sing She Talks About Texas and discussed how recording together came about while covering Don Williams’ Lord I Hope This Day Is Good. They brought the audience into a private moment throughout while they sang to each other with pure emotion and finished on The Farm before Laci departed with a kiss.

The art deco theatre was then turned into a honky tonk as Evans brought the vibe back up with a country mashup of Thank God She’s A Country Girl/Take Me Home, Country Roads/Chicken Fried and even a bit of Savage Garden for an old-fashioned singalong.

He kept the party going, and the words ‘we will never be this young again’ have never felt truer than when the whole place was dancing to one of his biggest hits. The lights perfectly timed for the drops in the song made it even more immersive and achieved the golden balance of an intimate gig with a stadium experience.

Evans discussed getting away from the stress of the world to live a more simple life with a person that you can call home in Settle it down and encouraged the audience to take a moment and think about what really matters to them in life.

His ability to go from introspective to partying with the crowd reiterated his philosophy that people have to take the good with the bad and celebrate what they can.

After his cover of Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up) by Garth Brooks on the God’s Country podcast went viral—and got a compliment from Brooks himself—fans begged for this to be added to his set, and he gave the people what they wanted with a performance of the song he had loved as a child.

Though it was well into the evening, Evans shut the place down with one of his most well-known songs, Day Drunk, which had many country girls jumping with excitement for the country party playlist staple. The energy in the room was palpable as it felt like Evans and the band were having just as much fun as the audience throughout.

After his thank you to all involved, Evans briefly left the stage before the chorus of “One more song!” was matched with stamping feet, and he returned to perform Land I Love as his encore. This love letter to Australia was the perfect ending to a gig which will no doubt leave many with a newfound appreciation for this beautiful country.

LYDIA ATKINSON

Photos by Mikaela James