When Thomas Rhett played his last tour date on October 12th, 2019 at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, he had no idea that would be the last time he'd perform in front of a live audience for over a year.
So when Billy Bob's in Fort Worth asked him to do a two-weekend, five show residency (which just wrapped up), he was chomping at the bit to go back on stage, telling the crowd on the first night, "It's been 572 days since our last live concert, and this is a very intoxicating feeling to get to play music in front of people."
In a statement from his label, he adds, "I honestly didn't know when we were gonna play shows again. And when Billy Bob's came to us and asked if we wanted to do a few nights, I was like, 100%. I mean at this point in time, I think I would go play anywhere. I would go play somebody's backyard, I'd go play at my high school's cafeteria.
"I just love sitting and playing guitar for people," he continues. "Any opportunity that raises its hand, that's something that we can do safely and efficiently, it's kind of an absolute yes at this point. And so, I can't wait to sit down and come up with a set list that includes, just a bunch of my favorite songs from my past records and also get to play a lot of this new record.
"I'm really excited to get back into just the process of rehearsing, gettin' my voice back in shape and kind of re-learning what it means to entertain a crowd and playin' the music that they want to hear."
