"You may be asking, 'What am I doing here?' And you know, I don't really know," quipped political commentator Tucker Carlson as he opened for Kid Rock on April 7. The former Fox News pundit appeared at the Louisiana stop of the singer's summer tour, Rock the Country.
And no, Carlson did not sing, dance or otherwise perform.
"I'm an unemployed talk show host," Carlson admitted as he opened up his six minute opening speech. He was met with cheers from the audience.
Carlson previously hosted Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News from 2016 to 2023. Fox then terminated his contract, and Carlson moved to X, formerly Twitter, to begin his new show, Tucker.
Carlson was the most watched television personality in the U.S., but Fox chose to nix him from the network due to "escalating toxicity, which included an undercurrent of white supremacy and a penchant for demeaning women and minorities."
Two months ago, Kid Rock and Carlson were having dinner when the former proposed the idea to Carlson, suggesting he open up for the country-rap-rock singer. Carlson was initially hesitant, given that he has no experience playing an instrument, singing or performing in general outside of hosting his talk shows.
"I don't play an instrument. What would I do at your show?" asked Carlson.
Careful words of encouragement, "You will figure it out and you will like it," convinced Carlson to agree to make an on-stage appearance for the "All Summer Long" singer.
The collaboration between Kid Rock and Carlson comes with little surprise. Kid Rock, like Carlson, has become particularly vocal about his distaste for the American political left. He is a loud and proud supporter of Donald Trump and MAGA culture. He's had several public controversies surrounding these outspoken political beliefs. Kid Rock also faked a run for the U.S. Senate, but the campaign was really a stunt to announce his album and tour.
Carlson continued his speech, noting that the audience in attendance was larger than the population of Gonzales, the town hosting the tour stop. Roughly 30,000 fans gathered for Friday night's show, while another 30,000 tickets sold for Sunday's show, when Carlson took to the stage.
"Now, I know that many of you are not from Gonzales, which has a population, I checked, of 12,000 people. There is [sic] more than twice that number here. So, you came long distances and you spent quite a bit of your money to get here," he said.
He continued that it would be worth it to spend that hard earned cash for a show like Kid Rock's because you can't "put a price on living free in the last free country."
"And so, as I know you can, please be as noisy and disobedient as possible for Kid f---ing Rock," Carlson concluded as he left the stage to the shredding sound of electric guitars.
Other artists at the day-long country concert included Sadie Bass, Gavin Adcock, Uncle Kracker, Big & Rich ft. Gretchen Wilson and Hank Williams Jr.
Find Carlson's full opening remarks here.
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