At just after 7 p.m. on Saturday, the event that Pittsburgh spent years anticipating came to an end when the final pick of the 2026 NFL Draft was announced. Three days of excitement, fun and Pittsburgh pride were in the books as the torch — or, rather, football — was passed to Washington, D.C. for next year’s draft. But the party wasn’t over quite yet.
The promise of a performance from country star Kane Brown kept many fans rooted to their spots at the Draft Theater as the business wound down. And at around 7:30 p.m., the singer and his band lit up the stage for a tight 11-song set that lasted about 45 minutes and put a cherry on top of the weekend.
Setting the tone, Brown started the show with the upbeat and fiddle-filled tune “Like I Love Country Music,” which got the crowd dancing. Dressed in a No. 26 Steelers jersey, Brown strutted the stage and lent his resonant voice to the red-hot country jam.
But Brown didn’t just stay with loud, upbeat songs, switching gears into his most successful hits — poignant love songs. “What Ifs” is a clever little ode to squashing doubt in relationships that the crowd sang enthusiastically and that Brown performed with adorable earnestness.
The catchy, stomping tune “Lose It” came next, adding to the pumping drums with jets of smoke shooting up from the stage at the song’s culmination. He followed it with “One Thing Right,” the first on the setlist of two collaborations he did with DJ and producer Marshmello.
He introduced the lovely “Good As You” by saying it’s “one of his favorite songs to sing.” The audience was happy to ride the rollercoaster of harder and softer songs into “Famous Friends,” the kind of country ditty you want to hear out with your buds on a Saturday night — with some very venue-appropriate lyrics about football as a bonus.
With the best run of the show, he launched into a sultry, dark mood with “I Can Feel It,” a scorcher that Brown spiced up with a few lines of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” during the bridge. Then he asked the crowd if they were ready to rock out, and immediately delivered with showstopper “Bury Me in Georgia.”
“I don’t know if y’all know, but I’m from a small town in Georgia. I love some college football, I’m a big Bulldog fan,” he said to introduce the song.
But there was one ballad left — Brown’s biggest hit, “Thank God.” He even brought out his original duet partner, his wife Katelyn Brown (in a No. 86 Steelers jersey). The couple harmonized beautifully on the sweet down-tempo song, and Katelyn Brown had the crowd singing at their highest volume of the show.
“Her family’s going to kill her for wearing this Pittsburgh jersey,” Kane Brown joked about his wife. “She’s an Eagle.”
After the hopeful, soaring “Heaven,” Brown wrapped up the night with another Marshmello collab. “Miles On It” sounds very EDM, even when played by a live band. A perfect summery driving song, and a fitting end to such a triumphant occasion.
It may be a football event, but the NFL Draft truly found a way to appeal to everyone, offering great food and fun activities for all — and the live music is yet another area in which the record-breaking spectacle did not disappoint.