LIVE REIVEW: Noah Kahan in Boston, MA (07.08.26)
This week, hometown hero Noah Kahan took over Fenway Park for four sold-out shows. As of July 2026, Kahan has more sellouts at Fenway Park this year than the Boston Red Sox do. Kahan has been taking the world by storm since his hit song “Stick Season” went viral in 2020, leading into to a 4x Platinum-selling album of the same name in 2022. This year, he released the follow-up to that album, The Great Divide, which debuted at No. 1 in the US and over ten other countries.
Kahan started the four-show run on Tuesday, playing through a deluge that continued from the first song to the last. With an elaborate stage production designed to resemble the outside of a small town general store with a front porch, a police car, streetlights and more, Kahan established that he’s come a long way from his coffee house singer-songwriter days. The setup also included a B-stage and a C-stage as he made his way around the Fenway Park field throughout the show.
As the raindrops were falling, Kahan began the show promptly at 8 pm, launching into “American Cars,” from The Great Divide, following that with four more songs on the main stage, before proceeding to the B-stage for a pair of stripped-down songs. Stopping for some banter between songs, Kahan marveled at the capacity crowd, reflecting on just how far he’s come, referencing a time back in 2018 when his name was spelled wrong on the Brighton Music Hall marquee, reading “Nathan Kahan,” an incident he commonly talks about as a metaphor of where he once stood in the New England music scene before his success.
Before “Deny, Deny, Deny,” he told the audience, “I am everything I am because of Boston, New Hampshire, Vermont. We’re going to play some songs about Boston, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, though. Sorry, Connecticut.” A quip that garnered some playful attention on social media and in the Connecticut local press and became a running joke throughout the week, leading him to an apology via X on Thursday.
Each night of the Fenway shows featured at least one unique song played only once during the four-night run. Tuesday’s audience was treated to “Paul Revere,” a song from Stick Season, about a desire to leave a small hometown that’s rapidly changing. Later in the week, Kahan would play songs from the first two records, I Was/ I Am and Busyhead, as well as the deluxe edition of The Great Divide.
While all four nights were packed to capacity inside, large crowds gathered by the thousands outside the ballpark as well, with fans standing around the entire show to listen with no view of the stage, others in the neighborhood hosted rooftop parties at buildings within earshot of the ballpark. The Fenway shows had become the toughest concert tickets in the area since Taylor Swift visited for the Eras tour in 2023, and, as with that tour, listening from outside the gates was the move for those unable to score tickets.
One of the more whimsical moments of the Fenway shows came in the form of pre-recorded video messages from Boston athletes, displayed on the video boards as Noah answered a prop payphone during the B-stage production. On Tuesday, it was Patriots quarterback Drake Maye who provided the shoutout, with David Ortiz following on Wednesday, Rob Gronkowski on Friday, and Kahan’s mother with a special announcement on Saturday – more on here.
During “Dial Drunk,” Kahan played out a skit with an actor dressed as a police officer, chasing him around the police parked onstage before “arresting” him and tossing him in the car.
Later in the set, Kahan and his band members took to the C-stage for the most stripped-down portion of the night, featuring just himself and his band members with their primary instruments on a small stage in the middle of the audience. During this portion of the show, he blended classic songs like “Maine” and “The View Between Villages” with new cuts such as “Orbiter” and “All Them Horses.”
Returning to the main stage, he played “Northern Attitude,” and there’s a distinct feeling that comes with hearing the lyrics “I’m mean because I grew up in New England” with a baseball stadium full of fans who did indeed grow up in New England. With the rain still pouring down, it was one of the most precious moments in the set.
Kahan would eventually close out the show with “Stick Season,” the song that catapulted him to stardom in the first place. At the end of the song, a massive display of fireworks launched above Fenway Park, punctuating a special and memorable night. The fireworks displays would close out each night of the four-night run.
Between the shows, pre-parties, merch pop-ups, and even a Noah Kahan-themed soft drink event, Noah took over the Fenway neighborhood in a way that’s only ever been seen with the Red Sox. In fact, you’d have to go out of your way to not notice the presence of Noah Kahan fans throughout the city the whole week, many homegrown New Englanders with deep connections to the music and lyrical references, and many who had traveled from elsewhere for the unique experience of seeing one of these special performances.
Noah Kahan is the only artist to sell out four nights at Boston’s Fenway Park, a venue that has been hosting concerts since 2003. Kahan’s tour in support of The Great Divide continues with sold-out shows in stadiums across North America through the end of August, before he’ll pack up and head out for international dates in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe later this fall.
Featured image by: Patrick-McCormack
