Kelsea Ballerini Addresses Audience, Powers Through Arena Show Amid Illness

Kelsea Ballerini addressed the audience as she powered through illness on the Little Caesars Arena stage on Tuesday evening (February 4) in Detroit, Michigan. It was the latest stop on Ballerini’s first-ever headlining arena tour.

The crowd collectively said “aw,” as Ballerini spoke about feeling under the weather. She cleared her throat as she said, “but here’s the tea. I’m also a perfectionist, and I also have this crippling fear of letting people down. So I’m gonna give you absolutely every ounce of everything I have left in the tank tonight,” she said in concertgoer-recorded videos shared by a fan account. That account also shared a glimpse of the moment Ballerini addressed a group of fans she was supposed to meet at a pre-show meet-and-greet, though she had to cancel because she’s sick. “I’m sorry. ...I haven’t done that this whole tour, and I would never do that unless it was — it’s just to keep you safe.

“Thank you for being here. Thank you for understanding.”

Ballerini said on stage that she was looking forward to “new year, new tour,” and then encountered “negative 20 degrees, the flu is going around (and) everyone’s getting sick.” Still, the Patterns artist engaged with the crowd and powered through her performance. 

“THANK YOU for helping me through our show last night and being so loud and kind,” Ballerini said in a statement shared on her Instagram story on Wednesday (February 5). “Feeling a bit better today and grateful for the grace to be human I’m feeling from y’all. Sending you the biggest (air) hug and going back to bed now. PS - TAKE YOUR VITAMIN C AND ZINC YALL ITS SICK SZN.”

Ballerini’s first-ever arena tour arrives after she released her highly-anticipated fifth studio record, Patterns. The 15-track album made its debut in late October, and includes the title track, “Sorry Mom,” “Baggage,” “First Rodeo,” “Two Things,” “Cowboys Cry Too” with Noah Kahan and more. Ballerini, who celebrated Patterns with a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in New York City, said when the album released that she took “the beautiful and brutal look into myself and the people I love the most. The celebrations and challenges in the name of betterment, growth, and all around elevated vibes. The healthy habits that I hold close and the ones that gotta go.”

“Written from my truest self, but meant for you to project onto your own lives and try on for fit,” Ballerini continued “Whether you relate, want a song to cry in the back of an Uber music video style to, dramatically/drunkenly tell someone how much you love them, or scream sing about moments gone wrong before they went right…it’s all yours.” Ballerini said she embraced a sense of freedom unlike ever before while creating the record, and credited “the angel-on-earth women who made it with me…the womanhood we made this with will forever be the award.”

Ballerini’s tour includes special guests Sasha Alex Sloan, Ashe, The Japanese House and MaRynn Taylor. The next show is set for Thursday (February 6) at Keybank Center in Buffalo, New York. See the list of tour stops here.