49 Winchester: Acclaimed concert in Cologne (Engl. Version)

It was a rainy Tuesday evening in Cologne, but that didn’t stop the fans turning up in their droves to see 49 Winchester’s show at the Kantine in Cologne. Many of them had previously seen the Virginia-based band supporting Luke Combs for his sold-out show at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg last October, and they were eager to see them as headliners in their own right.

Immediately upon arrival we met Cassia, who is stationed at the US military base in Rammstein, southern Germany. She’d taken it upon herself to travel 7 hours to Cologne, before waiting a further 5 hours in the rain to make sure she could stand in the front row to watch her heroes.

The opener for Tuesday’s show was Alabama native Drayton Farley, who had already wowed German crowds with his powerful vocals in March when he appeared at C2C – Country to Country in Berlin. His set of acoustic songs regularly tugged at the heartstrings with confessional songs such as American Dream and Pitchin’ Fits. He talked of his situation a few years previous when he was working in a factory and struggling mentally, and of how grateful he is to now be pursuing his dream on the other side of the Atlantic in front of full venues, because fans have a habit of showing up early in Europe.

49 Winchester took to the stage at around 21:15, kicking off proceedings with “Chemistry” from their 2020 album “III”, and it was immediately clear the fans were in a for a treat. It was warm in the packed venue and the sound was particularly loud. It wasn’t long before the band launched into their recent single “Yearnin’ For You” taken from forthcoming album “Leavin’ This Holler”, which is due for release this August. Plenty of fans were able to sing along with charismatic frontman Isaac Gibson, who cut a striking figure with his long beard and unique cowboy hat.

All in all the band played 18 songs from across their four albums released to date and the upcoming record, which bassist and founding member Chase Chafin rated as his favorite so far when he spoke to Country.de before the show. He also exclusively told us 49 Winchester were set to release a brand new single the very next morning, “Fast Asleep”.

Fan favorites “Russell County Line” and “Damn Darlin’” were met with particular enthusiasm by the fans, and just after 22:30 the band left the stage, only to return and play an encore of “Hillbilly Happy”.

After the show, the 6-piece band autographed merchandise and Cassia was rewarded for her incredible loyalty and looked delighted as they signed her chewing tobacco tin.

49 Winchester certainly didn’t leave the Cologne crowd disappointed and we hope they’ll be back on European shores soon.