The Crowd Goes Wild at Heart for Tyler Braden at Liberty Hall

This blog post is all about my Tyler Braden review of his show at Liberty Hall in Sydney on 30th September 2026, as part of his Wild At Heart tour.

If there’s one thing I wasn’t expecting from a Wednesday night in Sydney, it was to feel like I’d walked into a country music bar in Nashville or Tamworth.

But that’s exactly what Liberty Hall felt like last night as Tyler Braden kicked off the Australian leg of his Wild at Heart Tour.

From the cowboy boots and Ringers Western to the trucker hats, checked shirts and mullets, the crowd had fully committed to country music before Tyler had even stepped on stage.

And by the time he walked out, the venue was absolutely packed.

This was my first time seeing Tyler Braden live, and while I’ve been listening to him for a few years after discovering him through Spotify’s country playlists, I wouldn’t describe myself as a huge, huge fan going into the show.

I do, however, have a serious weakness for a voice with a bit of grit and plenty of passion, which is probably why I’ve always gravitated towards artists like James Arthur, Lewis Capaldi and Dermot Kennedy too.

So I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this one. I just didn’t realise quite how much.

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First Time at Liberty Hall

Tyler Braden’s Sydney show was held at Liberty Hall in the Entertainment Quarter, which was my first time at the venue.

It’s one of the smaller concert venues I’ve been to in Sydney, and by the time we arrived at around 7:45pm, it was already packed.

And I mean packed.

There was barely any room to move, which was actually a brilliant sign. It was a Wednesday night, but you wouldn’t have known it from the atmosphere.

I was stood towards the back of the venue simply because it was so busy. Thankfully, Liberty Hall is small enough that being near the back didn’t mean having a terrible view. I could still see the stage perfectly.

American country artist Clayton Mullen took to the stage at 8pm to get the crowd warmed up before Tyler Braden and he did a great job.

I will say, Clayton, standing alongside his drummer and guitarist, couldn’t have looked more different from each other. It was definitely giving ‘band pulled together from a Craigslist ad’, but even though their image wasn’t a match, their music matched perfectly.

The crowd was already in the mood for a good night, and by the time Clayton finished, Liberty Hall was absolutely buzzing.

Then, at 9pm, it was time for Tyler Braden.

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Let’s Talk About Tyler Braden’s Voice

Tyler opened the show with HOW IT STARTS, and it was immediately clear that we were in for a show.

The stage itself was relatively simple, with the full band behind him and plenty of lighting effects that worked really well in the smaller venue.

There was no need for an enormous production because Liberty Hall gave the whole thing an intimate feel that suited Tyler perfectly.

When the last refrain of HOW IT STARTS dropped the instruments for an a capella moment, the goosebumps appeared on my arm and I knew from that moment, I was in for a great night.

Tyler Braden’s voice is every bit as good live as it is on his recordings.

If anything, hearing that grit and rough texture in person makes you appreciate it even more.

There was no huge difference between the Tyler Braden I hear through my headphones and the one standing a few metres away from me on stage.

Throughout the night, he switched between acoustic and electric guitars, and his energy was much more rock-country than traditional country. There was a real Southern rock influence running through the show, which gave it plenty of energy without losing the country sound.

Tyler talked about being from Montgomery, Alabama, and how much it meant to finally be touring Australia. This was the first night of the Australian leg of the tour, and you could tell he was taking it all in.

He also seemed genuinely blown away by the reception he’d received before he’d even played a note.

Apparently, the Sydney crowd had bought out all of his merchandise before he’d even come on stage. That was all the merch he’d brought with him to Australia, so he was clearly not expecting to sell through everything on the first night.

The audience seemed pretty happy about it too.

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No Shoey for Tyler Braden

Of course, there was one very important Australian tradition the crowd wanted to see.

The shoey.

There were plenty of shouts from the crowd demanding one, but Tyler had already been warned about Australia’s expectations.

I recently spoke to country artist Lanie Gardner about the shoey, as she’ll be playing CMC Rocks in March next year and the Australian rite of passage news hadn’t made its way to her yet. But at least she’s pre-warned!

Tyler gave us a long explanation about how he doesn’t travel with much, but he did arrive in Australia with a bag full of excuses and one pair of boots.

So, unfortunately for the crowd, there was no shoey.

He had heard about artists having fresh shoes side-stage, or even putting a solo cup inside a cowboy boot – that was a new one for me – but he was adamant he wasn’t doing it.

Maybe by the end of the tour he’ll be convinced, because I’m not sure the Brisbane crowd will let him away with not doing one as easily as the Sydney crowd did.

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The Wild At Heart Tour Setlist

Tyler Braden’s setlist gave us a really good mix of his own songs, newer material, stripped-back performances and a few covers.

He opened with HOW IT STARTS, followed by Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, ABOVE THE WATER, MIGHT BE DANGEROUS, some covers that I won’t spoil, My Americana, RIGHT ON TRACK, and GOD & GUNS N’ ROSES among others.

There were some huge reactions throughout the night, particularly for Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, My Americana, Friends and God & Guns N’ Roses.

But my personal favourite was MIGHT BE DANGEROUS.

This was one of the songs I was most excited to hear, and Tyler sang it relatively early in the set. It’s actually a duet with Kaitlin Butts, but obviously she wasn’t in Sydney to sing it along with him.

So naturally, I decided to pretend I was Kaitlin.

I sang along to the entire thing, both in my head and probably much more loudly than I realised, because afterwards the girl standing next to me told me I had an incredible voice.

So either I was genuinely giving Kaitlin Butts a run for her money, or I was simply much louder than I thought I was.

I’m going with the first option.

Either way, hearing MIGHT BE DANGEROUS live was as perfect as I’d hoped it would be.

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The B Stage Versions

One of my favourite parts of the show was Tyler Braden’s stripped-back section, which he referred to as his “B Stage” songs.

It was just Tyler and his guitar for his cover of Sally, When the Wine Runs Out by ROLE MODEL and then Dear Old Flame.

The band eventually came back on stage for the end of his cover of Coldplay’s Yellow, which was a lovely way to bring the full show back together.

This section really highlighted just how good Tyler’s voice is without all the production around it.

He also played several covers throughout the night, including Breakeven by The Script, which was probably my favourite of the covers.

Hearing an American country artist take on an iconic song from an Irish band was not something I expected to hear in a Sydney country concert, but as an Irish person, I’m certainly not complaining.

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Welcome to Rock-Country

One of the things I liked most about the show was that it didn’t feel like a stereotypical country concert.

The crowd absolutely looked the part, but Tyler Braden’s music has enough rock and Southern influence to make the whole thing feel much bigger and more energetic.

There were plenty of moments where it felt more like a rock show than a traditional country gig, particularly with the electric guitar and lighting.

At the same time, there was still that familiar country-concert atmosphere. People were singing along, shouting between songs and having a brilliant time.

There’s quite a lot of rock influences in country music right now with Avery Anna (one of my favourite artists) leading the way with her cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears.

Add in the likes of Warren Zeiders, Bailey Zimmerman and Cameron Whitcomb and rock-country could be the next sub-genre that takes over our radio (or Spotify playlists).

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Tyler Braden is Right on Track

Before starting RIGHT ON TRACK, Tyler gave one of my favourite speeches of the night.

He spoke about getting to certain ages and milestones and feeling like you should be further ahead in life than you actually are. It’s incredibly easy to look around and think that everyone else has figured things out while you’re somehow falling behind.

His message was essentially that we’re all where we’re supposed to be. We’re all on our own timeline.

We’re all right on track.

It was a simple message, but it was one of those moments that made the show feel a little more personal than simply moving from one song to the next. And for me, it made me listen more closely to the lyrics of the song.

The final stretch of the show was packed with some of the biggest crowd reactions, including Friends, DEVIL YOU KNOW and finally GOD & GUNS N’ ROSES.

By this point, the crowd was fully invested, and GOD & GUNS N’ ROSES gave us one of the biggest singalongs of the night.

The band were great throughout, although Tyler was definitely the centre of attention. He didn’t just introduce the members of his band either. He also introduced his sound technicians, his wife who was taking photos of the show and his guitar technician, Rylan, who got to come out and play during the final song.

It was a really nice touch, particularly because Tyler seemed genuinely appreciative of everyone who had helped make the tour happen.

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Tyler Braden’s First Sydney Show

Walking out of Liberty Hall at the end of the night, I felt very happy with my Wednesday night decision.

This was my first time seeing Tyler Braden live, and I came away much more of a fan than I was going in.

You always hope an artist with a distinctive voice is going to sound good live, but Tyler Braden sounded just like his recordings, if not better.

The grit, the rasp and the emotion were all there, and there was something particularly satisfying about hearing that voice fill such a small room.

I also loved how grateful he seemed to be throughout the entire night. This was his first show in Australia, and you could tell that getting to bring his music here actually meant something to him.

And I think Liberty Hall was the perfect venue for it. It was small, packed and intimate, with some of the best sound I’ve heard at a concert in Sydney in a while.

For a Wednesday night, the Sydney country music crowd certainly knew how to show up.

And after seeing Tyler Braden live for the first time, I’d absolutely see him again.

Hopefully next time he brings more merchandise. And maybe, a second pair of boots for that shoey.

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