As Kelsea Ballerini gears up to embark on a lengthy U.S. tour, we thought it apt to look back at some of her best live performances to date. Ballerini shines particularly on a ballad, so we’ve chosen three separate somber performances to revisit. Find them, below.
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3 of the Best Kelsea Ballerini Live Performances
1. “Penthouse” at CMA Fest (2024)
Ballerini took the stage at Nissan Stadium for CMA Fest in 2024. She brought along a host of her biggest hits and this ballad about faking love in a relationship. “Penthouse” is one of Ballerini’s most tender songs. She recalls going through the motions in her marriage and its bitter end. She employs a proper amount of emotion in the performance, below.
We played the part five nights
But we were never there on the weekends, baby
We got along real nice
But when I left town, did you hate me?
One day, the curtain started coming down
I changed the second we were moving out
I guess wrong can look alright
When you’re playing home in a penthouse, baby
2. “Peter Pan” on CMT Storytellers (2015)
Flashing back to 2015, we have this performance of “Peter Pan” from CMT Storytellers. Ballerini used the familiar fairytale to dissect a former partner’s inability to stick around. Like the tight-wearing lost boy from Neverland, Ballerini’s Peter flies away and fails to face reality. Ballerini’s vocals cut right to the heart here.
Always gonna fly away, just because you know you can
You’re never gonna learn there’s no such place as a Neverland
You don’t understand
You’ll never grow up
You’re never gonna be a man
Peter Pan
3. “Two Things” at the People’s Choice Country Awards (2024)
At the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards, Ballerini brought out a song from her recently released album, Patterns. “Two Things” sees Ballerini reckon with the end of a relationship. While on one hand there is hatred for the other person, there is still some love leftover. It’s a poignant message of mixed emotions. She lets her vocals fly freely in the performance, below. The audience was likely left in awe of her stunning delivery of this song.
Two things can be true
I’ll love and hate you
I’ll be your best and your worst day
I’ll be your blessin’ and curse, babe, yeah
Sometimes I’ll cut and ghost
But sometimes I’ll get too close
You’re nothin’ and everything I got to lose
Two things can be true
Taylor Hill/WireImage
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1972: (L-R) Jim Hodder, David Palmer, Denny Dias, Donald Fagen, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Walter Becker of the rock band "Steely Dan" pose for a portrait in 1972. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
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Kyu Sakamoto. (1941-1985) Japanese singer, best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Aruko" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number one in the United States Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963, making Sakamoto the first Asian recording artist to have a number one song on the chart. (Photo by Sjöberg Bildbyrå/ullstein bild via Getty Images) -
Picture taken in 1974 in Stockholm shows the Swedish pop group Abba with its members (L-R) Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus posing after winning the Swedish branch of the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Waterloo". – Sweden's legendary disco group ABBA announced on April 27, 2018 that they have reunited to record two new songs, 35 years after their last single. The quartet split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like "Waterloo", "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia" and "Super Trouper". (Photo by Olle LINDEBORG / TT News Agency / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo credit should read OLLE LINDEBORG/AFP via Getty Images)
