I don’t know what was in the air in Albuquerque over the weekend but apparently it brought out everyone’s fightin’ side.
Alabama-born singer-songwriter Riley Green had to stop his show this past Friday, September 11 at the First Financial Credit Union Amphitheater not once… but twice— and he was not too happy about it. Out of all the songs you could pick to start beefing with someone next to you at a concert, people somehow always manage to choose the most inconvenient timing.
In this case, the freshly announced Voice coach was forced to pause his performance of his hit 2024 Ella Langley duet, “You Look Like You Love Me.” C’mon now, guys, save the punches for after the love songs (and “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” is off limits too).
Mid-verse, Green grabbed his mic, pausing his show, saying, “Hang on a sec,” before strutting onto the stage’s walkout strip and announcing, “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to whoop nobody’s a** today.” Then leading into his PSA to the crowd he instructed: “If everybody’s okay, why don’t y’all just split up? You know, I mean, just y’all go stand somewhere else. How can you fight during a love song? It’s way too early.”
Immediately, people in the crowd started hootin’ and hollerin’ and booing, only adding to the chaos as Green instructs the security to get the rowdy fans out of the venue. He admits that the situation brought down his mood: “I was really feeling good too, you know. I thought if I didn’t wear sleeves on my shirt no body would try and fight anybody.”
At least he was able to show off his humor lightening up the mood as he continued hilariously stating, “Tell y’all what, y’all just hold it together for a little while, we’ll play for about 90 minutes and then we can all beat the sh*t out of eachother at the end of the night.” Wrapping up his speech, he immediately led into his performance… but not for long.
Once again, Green was forced to address the situation, and this time around he was not approaching it in a laughing manner, stopping the show once more: “I’ve been about as patient as I can be; get them the f*ck out of here if they’re fighting, I don’t give a sh*t.” The crowd backed him up chanting “kick them out.”
As for Riley, the look on his face plastered across the big screen was about the same one your daddy gives you right before he starts to reach for the rubber belt to whoop you. It’ll never fail to amaze me how people manage to get into such ravenous fights in the middle of a concert in the first place, let alone keep going after they’ve already been called out by the artist himself.
I think one more incident and Green would’ve popped into the crowd and fixed the situation for himself. Hopefully his return to the stage this weekend for a lineup of shows across Oregon, Washington, and California will be much more drama-free as he continues out on the remainder of his 2026 Cowboy As It Gets Tour.
Tour Dates:
- 09/17 – Ridgefield, WA @ Cascades Amphitheater •^+
- 09/18 – Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater •^+
- 09/19 – Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre •^+
- 09/24 – Long Beach, CA @ F&M Bank Amphitheater •^+
- 09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre •^+
- 09/26 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre •^+
- 10/01 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center •^
- 10/02 – Durant, OK @ Choctaw Casino •^
- 11/21 – St. Petersburg, FL @ St. Pete Country Fest
- 12/06 – Las Vegas, NV @ Resorts World Theatre
- 12/10 – Las Vegas, NV @ Resorts World Theatre