Emma Ferguson
August 28, 2026
Last Friday, August 21st, I had the privilege of seeing The Great Divide Tour, a series of sold-out concerts by singer-songwriter Noah Kahan.
This concert captured not only the strong vocals of this Folk-Americana artist, but the love he has for his fans and the love his fans have for him. Centered around the singer's most recent album, The Great Divide (April 24, 2026), this concert made people cry, dance, laugh, and create memories that will last a lifetime.
Located at Oracle Park in San Francisco, the same stadium the San Francisco Giants play in, this concert had nearly 42,000 fans in attendance.
Now, I’ve been to many baseball games in this arena, yet I’ve never seen as many people as I did on that late August night. By the time I had reached Oracle, lines for the main gate were clear around the side of the stadium, with many people shoulder to shoulder with each other. However, despite the abundance of fans, once the gates were open, security made sure the rushing crowd got through quickly; some fans rushed to merchandise stands, some to food, and others just to their seats. The stadium was well equipped for the number of people filling the passageways, with many of the common food vendors open and fourteen merchandise stands available.
As I entered the stadium, it was easy to see how dedicated the fans were. Many of the listeners walking around were wearing bug costumes, a reference to his “The View Between Villages” line, “As the last of the bugs, leave their homes again,” and his deluxe album, The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs. Bees and ladybugs were the most common; however, there were some fans dressed as butterflies, flies, moths, and cockroaches. Fans who weren’t dressed up as insects were wearing merch from past tours, clothes from the singer's website, or customized shirts with lyrics or songs from Kahan’s albums.
After reaching my seat, it was about time for the openers to come out. The first opener, Annabelle Dinda, took the stage at 6:30. The artist, debuting in 2020, played a short set of five songs: “Blunt Force and Bomb Dog” off her EP, ME-P (2025), single “Whatever You Wanna” (2026), an unreleased song titled “Learn Something Baby,” and two songs off her album Some Things Never Leave (2026), “The Hand” and “Gunpoint, Headlock.” It wasn’t until about 7:15 that the second and main opener, Gigi Perez, started her set.
This artist had a slightly longer set, with eight songs to hype up the crowd. The songs she played were: the single “Please Be Rude” (2024), then seven songs off her album At The Beach, In Every Life (2025): “Sleeping,” the title track, “At The Beach, In Every Life,” “Fable,” “Sugar Water,” featuring her sister, Bella Perez, “Twister,” “Chemistry,” and her most popular song, “Sailor Song.” After her set, ending at about 8:00, fans waited anxiously in anticipation for the main attraction, Noah Kahan, to take the stage.
It was 8:35 when the singer, along with his band, lit up the stage. Now, as I said before, I’ve been to this stadium countless times before the night of the concert, seeing it in all lights, morning, noon, and night. Yet, I can truthfully say that I’ve never seen the field, let alone the stands, light up the way they did. The stage lights shone through the evening light, and the lights from each wristband lit up the faces of every screaming individual. Opening the show with his song, “American Cars” off The Great Divide, Kahan’s voice surged through the stadium, with not one able member of the crowd sitting down. The audience quickly became the singers, backing vocals, screaming every word of the beloved song.
It was mesmerizing to be a part of. As a long-time fan myself, not only to hear the artist that changed my life, but also to be blessed enough to scream-sing the lyrics with 42,000 other hardcore fans was something that one would have to just stand still and take in.
Kahan, being unsurprisingly aware of the effect his music had on every person there, stopped singing after two songs and started talking to the fans. “There are so (explicit) many of you people,” the AMA winning artist said, “... we’re gonna play some music that makes you sad, and uh, it’s a windy night so our roof can’t come up tonight (a bit the singer does at every show, singing multiple songs atop a set-up roof), but I’m not exactly known for raising the (explicit) roof so only makes sense.”
Despite claiming that he wasn’t “known for raising the roof,” Kahan did exactly that. With a set a little over two hours long, not a single fan stopped jumping around; Kahan himself even ran around the stage despite having been sick for multiple days. This setlist had songs from his most recent albums, The Great Divide and Stick Season, and was slightly modified due to the singer's recent illness. The songs on the setlist included “American Cars,” “Doors,” “All My Love,” “Deny Deny Deny,” “Staying Still,” “Haircut,” “Downfall,” “Dashboard,” “Dial Drunk,” “Willing and Able,” “Porch Light,” “Orbiter,” the surprise song, “Call Your Mom,” “Paid Time Off,” “Dan,” “The View Between Villages,” “Norther Attitude,” “The Great Divide,” and “New Perspective,” for the main set. For the encore, he played “End of August” and his best-known song, “Stick Season.” The songs that were removed from the setlist due to Kahan having the flu were “She Calls Me Back,” “Pain is Cold Water,” “Maine,” “Orange Juice,” and “Homesick.”
All in all, this concert was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’m so grateful to have experienced. From the openers to the fans to Noah Kahan himself, every part of this concert felt magical. It’s easy to see that I had a great time crossing the great divide with Noah and the Bugs.
