Award-winning hip-hop country artist Jelly Roll returned to Boston Sept. 26 with his “Beautifully Broken” tour, filling TD Garden with cheering fans, electrifying performances and an unforgettable show. 

This was the first time that Jelly Roll performed at TD Garden and he ended up selling out the whole arena. The tour is in honor of his upcoming record “Beautifully Broken,” which comes out Oct. 11.

The setlist ebbed and flowed between loud rap, expressive country rock and slower melodies. Some of the songs that were on the set list for the show featured top hits such as “Liar,” “Save Me,” “Need a Favor” and “Halfway to Hell.” There were also two unreleased songs that were performed such as “Burning” and “Heart of Stone”. 

Rowdy energetic audience members jumped up on their feet with their red and black flannels on, cowboy boots and American flag T-shirts getting ready to welcome the Nashville native to Boston.

The show kicked off with a bang as Jelly Roll came out wearing his custom made black and green Boston Celtics jacket with his wife, Alyssa DeFord. They both greeted the many fans in attendance as they walked through the audience to a secondary stage that was set up.

“I Am Not Okay” opened the show and set the perfect tone about ‘healing’ with its soothing beat, catchy lyrics and easy to follow rhythm. As he began singing, the metal framing of a house hung above him burst into flames. He acknowledged that sometimes life gets dark, but we will make it through the pain together and find something much more beautiful and fulfilling on the other side. 

Throughout the show, Jelly Roll treated the concert as a place of peace and where everyone should feel welcome. Some members of the crowd even shouted that they felt that this moment was like going to church. 

“Tonight will be a night of healing. Tonight will be a night of love. Tonight will be a night of redemption,” Jelly Roll shouted to the audience.

After performing “I Am Not Okay” and hyping up the crowd that tonight would be a night to remember, Jelly Roll returned to the main stage for his top country rock hit,“Halfway to Hell.” This brought electric feelings and excitement out of the audience where everyone started to clap to the upbeat rhythm of the song. 

The pyro to this song was unbelievable. Everytime Jelly Roll would get to the climax of the song, a large broken skull crown display on the stage would get shot up in bright bursts of fire.

Throughout the night during each song, he would keep the atmosphere chaotic, hyped and upbeat. The stage crew added flashing red lights and dropped dramatic dark curtains as Jelly Roll called for the audience to cheer on his drummer, “Porkchop” (Cody Ash), as he was banging drum tricks to hype up the crowd with his introduction.

After introducing his drummer, Jelly Roll started to move into a more spiritual direction for his self-reflective  hit called “Son of a Sinner.” During this part of the show, he started to bring out surprise guests including upcoming country singer Alexander Kay for a collaborative cover of Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” and a powerful solo of Shania Twain’s “I Feel Like a Woman.” 

Jelly Roll also brought out Worcester’s own Joyner Lucas to perform his rap verse for “Best For Me,” a track that features lyrics about loved ones of addicts. The crowd went crazy when Lucas hit the stage and erupted as he began rapping his fast verses to the song. 

“Jelly Roll, you are the embodiment of a rose growing from a crack in concrete,” Joyner Lucas said.

The end of the concert neared as he performed his two top hits, “Liar” and “Save Me.” As Jelly Roll performed “Liar,” he uplifted the audience with a powerful message about not letting someone else break you down and encouraging them to remove  the fake people from their lives. 

To end the show, he performed “Save Me,” where he had water rain down on him from a dark fog mimicking clouds . The intense droplets of water hitting him and the ground signified a baptism and rebirth. According to him as an artist he plans on changing his torrid past into a bright future by singing and being an inspiration to his fans.

Overall, the concert was amazing from the loud audience to catchy tracks and even the motivation from Jelly Roll himself. This will be one that I will never forget. I have been listening to Jelly Roll for about two or three years now and I have to say he has become a big inspiration for me during tough times in life. 

Jelly Roll plans to return to Boston in the next few years with the hope of performing at Fenway Park. 

The “Beautifully Broken” tour will continue throughout the next few months until April with stops in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and more.