One of the most exciting times of the year for Australian music fans is when CMC Rocks is in town, as it means that some of the top country artists from Nashville descend upon Australia for action-packed sets. Outside of the Queensland festival, this brings a wave of sideshows around the country, with concerts often featuring two or even three big stars performing together in a jam-packed extravaganza.

This year, it was the turn of Alabama-born country singer Riley Green to perform at the Hordern Pavilion for two nights in Sydney alongside Braxton Keith and Jake Worthington. After a short set from Australian Bella Mackenzie, Jake Worthington took to the stage and showed that he has come a long way from his journey on the US version of The Voice over a decade ago. With a beautiful, rich tone and great country songs full of feeling, he had the crowd engaged from the start and delivered a superb performance.

Braxton Keith followed with another set of classic country music, with his viral song “I Own This Bar” getting a good laugh from the crowd when he sang, “I’m Braxton Keith and honey, I own this bar.” While bearing no relation to country megastar Toby Keith, Braxton is very much in the same genre and delivered a great set for the fans in attendance.

Then it was the turn of Riley Green to take to the stage, and immediately there was quite a contrast in his set compared to the earlier two. Green performed a much more ‘bro country’ style of music, as opposed to the more classical approach of Worthington and Keith. The venue was completely jam-packed, with a sea of people descending on the mosh pit, so the energy was high from the moment that Green sang “Different ’Round Here” before moving into “Damn Good Day to Leave”, which had the crowd singing along from the get go.

After Green’s incident in Melbourne, where a concertgoer threw a phone at him drawing blood, the country star was understandably quite cautious when an audience member threw a t-shirt onto the stage at the start of the set. 

“I know it’s just a t-shirt but forgive me, can we not throw stuff on stage,” he said to laughter from the crowd. “Actually maybe bras are ok, just not socks or cellphones.”

The crowd was particularly engaged as Green performed “You Look Like You Love Me”, his song with Ella Langley that has gone quite viral on TikTok. Unsurprisingly, this got the phones up and had the crowd fully engaged. Green then moved through several songs from his Don’t Mind If I Do album before bringing out Jake Worthington for a duet and then surprising the crowd with an appearance from Randy Houser. 

Houser truly does have one of the best voices, if not the best voice, in country music at the moment and his beautiful, soulful, rich tone was a nice contrast to Green as they worked well together on “Like a Cowboy” before covering Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”. The two played off each other extremely well and it was a real pleasure to hear Houser’s voice again. It was a bit of a surprise not to see him on the CMC Rocks lineup given that he is around, but he will surely tour Australia soon given that he spends a lot of time in the country. After bringing out Bella Mackenzie for “Don’t Mind If I Do”, Green had the whole crowd on their feet for “Worst Way” before closing out the night with “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” and a cover of “Dixieland Delight”.

Overall, this was a fun night of country music, showcasing a wide range of genres and styles. Green is a true headliner, showing incredible presence and charisma on stage while also delivering a strong vocal performance, with great support from Worthington and Keith and Randy Houser’s appearance was another fantastic highlight and a great way to further elevate the set. A wonderful showcase of country music at the Hordern Pavilion.

Rating: ★★★★1/2

Riley Green – Hordern Pavilion – 16 March 2026