Noah Kahan made me cry.
OK, he didn’t. But the slogan printed on the back of one of his tour Tees certainly rang true with many in the crowd at B.C. Place. I Sang Along to Every Song at Noah Kahan should definitely be a future merch slogan.
Not even Taylor Swift has fans belting out every lyric to every single song all night long quite like Kahan fans. Not only do they know all the words, they harmonized in key as well. It made the whole vibe of The Great Divide Tour date in Vancouver as much of an evangelical arena crusade as a concert.
It’s a point not lost on Kahan, who joked about it not being a Christian rock concert.
“Even though there are this many acoustic guitars on stage, this isn’t Christian rock as, hey, Jewish,” he said.
But the Vermont folk pop singer knows the spiritual connection his music has with his fans and it’s clear he loves spreading the positive vibes in every venue he visits. From the moment his crack six-piece backing band drove into the opener American Cars to the final fading notes of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, this was an evening of preaching love in all its ugly appearances applied with back porch jam session stylings.
Noah Kahan on the big screen at B.C. Place. Credit: Stuart Derdeyn (2026) single use
Not that anything in the 26 song set was left to chance.
The cabin-in-the-Vermont Green Mountains stage set, complete with rural gas station and what looked like an actually K-car station wagon were folksy. The band’s goofy choreography was stuff a dad band in the garage might think up after a few brews. But under all that casual veneer, the pacing and location moves from the mainstage to B stage to the cabin roof and back were precise.
Singing by the old station wagon and the rural gas station set.
Noah Kahan up on the roof.
This isn’t to say that America’s answer to Mumford & Sons by way of John Denver and others is too slick. It’s just that his live show is all about delivering songs such as Dial Drunk and Dan in a way that is certain to have no jarring edges or endings. Even with the occasional curse word tossed in, this music is kid-friendly.
Nothing was spoken or sung that the predominantly young, female audience hasn’t heard before. One of the things that really works in his material is the honesty in his excellent lyrics. It makes him stand out from so many musicians mining the exact same terrain.
Songs such as Willing and Able tell it like it is: “Cause if I call you out, I’m an a — hole/ But I tell the truth when I drink/ So come home, let’s fight ’bout the childhood lie/ We don’t care what the other one thinks.” They are a breath of fresh air in the world of manosphere mumblings delivered by inked apes set to AI arrangements.
Kahan may suffer from sameness in his sound, but he doesn’t seem anything but decent addressing his adoring audience.
Plus, his concert proved time and again that he is still finding his way around all this superstardom. For every ‘hey ho’ predictable rising chorus in so many songs, there are those stick-in-your-head progressions that make You’re Gonna Go Far and Deny Deny Deny that are bound to become classics of contemporary pop.
As he grows as an artist, one can only hope that he delves deeper into bluegrass-tinged tunes like Paid Time Off and folk hymn-favouring Pain Is Cold Water. Both of these were show stoppers delivered by him and the band on the B-stage performing mostly on acoustic instruments.
With the lowered volume, Kahan seemed more comfortable singing and stretched out his range in new directions.
Noah Kahan plays solo on the B-stage.
He is definitely an artist on a trajectory that shows no sing of slowing down and he’s doing his part to bring artists he believes in along with him. A case in point was Gigi Perez who played a well-received opening set and returned to the stage to duet on She Calls Me Back.
This song was introduced by a little skit where Vancouver comedian Nathan Fielder turned up to make a joke about Kahan not having sold out B.C. Place and it all being about the music and not the money, etc.
Also on hand were the cast of the locally-shot Prime Video series Off Campus who seem to be turning up at concerts all over town recently. Kahan noted that his wife loves the show. I’m sure the show loved the shout out as well.
As fans streamed out, there were indeed more than a few that were teary-eyed. For many, they started flowing when the countdown clock began before the show.
Credit to Kahan for delivering on the promise of his humorous shirt slogan. Folks certainly got what they paid for and will be eager to see him live again.
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