Kevin Costner performs to a sold out crowd in Nashville

You know him as a multi-award winning actor famous for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Emmy Award but this week Kevin Costner showed the world a different side with a sellout show in the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with his band, Modern West.  And he looked and sounded pretty good as he did so.

By all reports, Costner, now 66, was a sensational entertainer on stage.  The lead singer, Costner regaled the packed audience for 90 minutes with original music, breaking in between to chat with the audience, crack jokes and tell the stories behind the songs he sang.

Costner and his band play a style of music called Americana, which blends rock music with American country vibes.  They’ve been playing together for sixteen years, releasing three albums in that time – one in 2008, one in 2012, and the most recent which leans on his incredibly popular and most recent TV Series, Yellowstone, with the album titled “Tales from Yellowstone”. Apparently, the songs are written from the perspective of his character, a father and widower on the land managing a property that has been held in his family for six generations.

You may know him as John Dutton, Crash Davis, or Ray Kinsella.

But last night, Kevin Costner didn’t need to play a character to pull at the heartstrings of a captive audience.

Read about his sold out show with his band @modernwest below! https://t.co/EPUHP4ouJU

— Ryman Auditorium (@theryman) October 27, 2021

In the show, he explained to the audience how the song “Won’t Stop Loving You” from their latest album makes his character Dutton feel about his late wife who is not a physical part of the show.  Costner said to the audience that he listens to the song before he goes to work on the show to get into his character’s mindset.

Costner appeared to really enjoy himself on the stage, finishing the show with two encore songs, one of which was a heartfelt cover of Bob Dylan’s hit Mr Tambourine Man.  You can clearly hear is Kevin Costner twang we know so well from the movies in the clip posted by one fan on Twitter.

nothin like Kevin Costner doin Dylan ! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/TQYlnJREIL

— Franki Pineapple (@FrankiPineapple) October 23, 2021

He finished the show by spending time with his audience, popping a bottle of champagne as the band left the floor and singing a cover of Bruce Cockburn’s Last Night of the World, referencing the line “What would I do that was different unless it was champagne with you.”