Friday evening’s Jelly Roll concert at Rupp Arena ended essentially the same way it began. The country star, reborn from hip-hop roots, was ushered through the sold-out audience to a B-stage at the other end of the venue as the skeletal frame of a house lowered around him and promptly burst into flames.
Read into that all the symbolism you like. But the finale of “Save Me” had a bonus. The fire was doused by sheets of water that poured down from atop the lighting rigs, allowing the singer to stand in his own indoor baptismal rainstorm.
Eye-catching effects. Like much of the 100-minute performance that preceded it, the resulting feel was connected keenly to the redemptive gusto in many of Jelly Roll’s recent songs and, ultimately, was grandly theatrical in presentation. It was also a bit much.
The positives to Jelly Roll’s second headlining Rupp concert in 13 months readily outweighed the excesses, to be sure. A show-opening clip — narrated by Morgan Freeman, no less — bluntly outlined a sense of welcoming and identity. “This is our space,” Freeman narrated with typically stoic grandeur.