He wasn’t going to let the weather stop him this time.

Last night, Morgan Wallen was back on the stage, performing at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois with Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock and Zach John King. It’s the first show he’s played since his controversial time in Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago, where he not only got in trouble for throwing a fans phone, but also canceling the second night due to weather.

There’s nothing worse than a day-of cancellation… but sometimes, it’s out of the control of anyone and in the hands of Mother Nature, though the Pittsburgh show at Acrisure Stadium in particular was controversial mostly because the weather ended up being pretty perfect by the time the show would have started.

The official announcement went as follows:

“After talking with local officials and my team, there is no choice but to cancel tonight’s show due to severe adverse weather conditions expected throughout the rest of the day and night. Safety for my fans and crew is the highest priority. Refunds available at point of purchase.”

But that projected severe weather hit the Pittsburgh area early in the day, and it had cleared out by 4:30 P.M. local time. The concert was set to start at 5:30. Fans were already upset with the cancellation, but once it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful night, they were outraged… and speculated that Wallen might have called off the concert for other reasons:

Cool to see that fans still showed up… but it’s definitely a shame that they didn’t get to attend the concert they were looking forward to.

Those on the internet started spreading completely unfounded rumors that Morgan Wallen had partied too hard the night before his show and was too hungover to perform, and there tons of other rumors, so much so that Morgan himself eventually addressed it on his own Instagram:

“This morning, my team walked on my bus and told me that they had been consulting with local officials and that I should cancel my show in Pittsburgh. I said, ‘Why?’ and they said there was going to be strong winds in the area, and I said, ‘Okay.’ So that’s what I did, and that was the information I had in the moment and I trusted my team.

I understand that wind and whatever else hasn’t gotten to Pittsburgh yet. I know it has touched some of Pennsylvania, so my heart goes out to all those affected by it. The truth of the matter is, I have a large stage that, in those conditions, could become fatal to a lot of folks around it. So I did the best I could with the information I had in the moment.

I’ve seen a lot a nonsense about me that is simply not true. I just wanted to clear the air, and I think my true fans know that that’s not how I operate in general. But I had to say it. Y’all take care.”

That’s just one of those situations where, armed with hindsight, it certainly seems like the concert could have gone on as regularly scheduled. But with so much at stake, it’s a really tough call to make operating solely from weather reports. And to be fair, multiple people from the Pittsburgh area confirmed they got some really nasty weather.

And last night in Chicago, Morgan seemingly made reference to the controversy, stopping the show to tell the crowd that even though it was raining, he wasn’t going to stop and they were “gonna play through it”:

“I just want to take note and say that it is raining right now, and we’re gonna play through it.”

To be fair, a lot of the comments indicated that it was only drizzling, so the weather never seemed to be a real issues, but either way, it sounds like Morgan didn’t take all of the criticism too hard and was cracking jokes about it last night:

Again, it sucks for everyone in Pittsburgh who missed their show, but I guess that’s the risk you take with any outdoor stadium show. Had he not canceled, and the bad weather did come through during show time, and Heaven forbid, someone got hurt, we would be having a totally different conversation right now, and honestly, Morgan can never really win no matter what he does.

Morgan will play Soldier Field once again tonight, this time with Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock and Zach John King opening.

‘Still The Problem’ Tour Dates

June 19 || Chicago, Ill. || Soldier Field w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
June 20 || Chicago, Ill. || Soldier Field w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
June 26 || Clemson, SC. || Clemson Memorial Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
June 27 || Clemson, SC. || Clemson Memorial Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High nHeat
July 17 || Baltimore, Md. || M&T Bank Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
July 18 || Baltimore, Md. || M&T Bank Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
July 24 || Ann Arbor, Mich. || Michigan Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten
July 25 || Ann Arbor, Mich. || Michigan Stadium w/ HARDY, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten
July 31 || Philadelphia, Penn. || Lincoln Financial Field w/ ​​Brooks & Dunn, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten
August 1 || Philadelphia, Penn. || Lincoln Financial Field w/ Ella Langley, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten