Cosmic talent, beauty, and showmanship landed in FirstBank Amphitheater when Franklin welcomed Meghan Trainor with The Timeless Tour. Opened by the electric Paul Russell and the entertaining Ryan Trainor, Meghan’s brother, Trainor brought timeless confidence and strength to her performance showcasing her new album, aptly titled Timeless. Walking around the amphitheater, it was such a heart-warming experience seeing so many young girls and boys with their families decked out in matching outfits, sparkles, and merchandise, getting to make some of their first concert memories together singing along to Katy Perry and Chappell Roan in the pre-show playlist. By releasing hits for over a decade and creating empowering, energetic music that not only gets people moving but also uplifts them and strikes a chord in many hearts, Trainor’s discography is one that anyone can find joy in and has created a fan base with members from every generation.
Entering in a futuristic space cloud on a rising platform, Trainor kicked the night off with recent hit “Mother”, clad in a gorgeous sparkling white set and pink go-go boots. Shortly after, she was accompanied by her gorgeous team of backup dancers dressed head to toe in pink, wowing the crowd with incredible choreography. By the time Trainor got to “Lips Are Movin”, everyone in the crowd was exceptionally hype and the night was shaping up to be wonderfully memorable. Trainor took some time to talk directly to the audience, sharing that her mom and her dad were in the audience tonight and that she shares a special connection to Franklin, Tennessee specifically as she had driven here whilst living in Nashville one day, and that day she wrote her first hit “All About That Bass” in Franklin. After taking a sip of water from her completely bedazzled Stanley cup, she got straight back to the show with “Crushin’” and “Bestie”, waving to countless people in the crowd. Meghan Trainor’s concert was one of the most engaging concerts with how much she interacted with audience members by shouting out people who knew every lyric and who were dancing their hearts out. She joyfully laughed as she connected with a woman who had a sign reading “I could go into labor at any minute” and received a pair of bedazzled blue sunglasses from a young fan in the first row. Additionally, the energy of the crowd was amplified by how fast paced her setlist was, not wasting time in between any songs. Upbeat would almost be an understatement to describe the energy in the amphitheater.
Trainor came out in a cowboy hat and bedazzled ukulele for “Title”, where she shared gratitude for the song gaining a second life because of Tik Tok almost nine years after its release. Her vocals on this song (as well as for the whole show) were truly crystal clear despite the quickness of the show and the choreography she was pulling off whilst singing. For “Forget How to Love”, she told the audience her goal in writing this song was to address the hateful culture of criticism and judgment she sees online, and she told the audience to scream out if they would promise to never say a hateful thing online again. You could see her physical shock and joy at the sheer volume of the screams emanating from the crowd.
Seeing Trainor perform “Superwoman” was so special, especially since she has been so public with sharing her family’s personal life with her 3-year-old son, Riley, and is such an inspiration for many mothers. On top of this, seeing her perform this song with her own mother in the crowd only added to this performance’s beauty, with Trainor telling the crowd to hold up their flashlights to honor her own mother. Following this, Trainor was joined at the piano with Chris Gelbuda, her producer on 2015 song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You”, where they performed a beautiful rendition of the song that had the audience belting out every word. Throughout the entire concert, Trainor expressed immense gratitude for her Franklin audience and was extremely genuine in saying she was blown away by the energy and love from the crowd, something really refreshing to witness from an artist at her level as a frequent concert-goer.
Her performance of “All About That Bass” was exactly what you’d imagine: bootyful. That song is such an iconic anthem for women about feeling confidence in their own body and flaunting everything they have, and as someone who remembers dancing to it on the radio when it was released, seeing it have the same effect on young girls in the audience is beyond heartwarming. Trainor’s concert proceeded to be hit after hit with late 2010’s bops like “NO” and “Me Too” as well as new bops such as “To The Moon” and “Hate It Here”, where she introduced her superb backup dancers to the audience. With an encore including “I Wanna Thank Me” and “Made You Look”, Meghan Trainor left her mark in Franklin by affirming that even after an illustrious decade of bringing life and energy into pop music, releasing six albums, going on four tours, and starting a family, she’s still one of the most iconic pop icons in the game.
- Lillie Hollabaugh
