Tim McGraw Struggles to Follow The Chicks at Target Field as Five-Act Country Marathon Delivers Surprises
Tim McGraw faced a difficult challenge Sunday night at Minneapolis’ Target Field: following The Chicks after a marathon lineup packed with some of country music’s biggest names.
The sold-out-style stadium event was part of McGraw’s ambitious Pawn Shop Guitar Tour, bringing together five acts — Timothy Wayne, 49 Winchester, Lady A, The Chicks and McGraw himself. The Target Field show marked one of only three stadium dates on the tour featuring both The Chicks and Lady A.
But the unusual format created a pacing problem. By the time McGraw took the stage around 9 p.m., the audience had already spent hours watching performances, with The Chicks hitting the stage at approximately 7:25 p.m.
McGraw Took a Risk With His Opening Set
Nearly 35 years into his career, the 59-year-old Louisiana native chose not to launch his headlining performance with an immediate barrage of his biggest hits.
Instead, McGraw opened with a six-song acoustic portion featuring ballads and mid-tempo material. The stripped-down approach was designed to echo the intimate club performances that helped shape his early career.
The concept fits the theme of the Pawn Shop Guitar Tour, which takes its name from McGraw’s new music and the story of the guitar that helped launch his career. Earlier reports noted that the first portion of the concert was intentionally unplugged before the full production returned for his bigger songs.
Still, following The Chicks presented a major hurdle.
The Chicks Set the Bar High
The Chicks brought years of experience and a deep catalog of songs to the Target Field stage, making them a particularly tough act to follow in the middle of an already lengthy evening.
McGraw eventually shifted into the full-band portion of his show, giving fans the hits and crowd favorites they had come to hear. His set included songs such as “Real Good Man,” “Something Like That,” “I Like It, I Love It,” “Felt Good on My Lips,” as well as newer material including “Pawn Shop Guitar” and “Song for America.”
The problem wasn’t necessarily McGraw’s performance. Rather, the five-act structure meant the audience had already experienced several hours of country music before the headliner reached the stage.
A Massive Country Music Bill
The Target Field concert was designed as one of the tour’s marquee events.
McGraw recruited The Chicks and Lady A for three special stadium performances in 2026 — Hersheypark Stadium, Fenway Park and Target Field — while 49 Winchester and Timothy Wayne rounded out the Minneapolis lineup.
The result was an impressive collection of country talent in a single night, but the sheer length of the program created an unusual challenge for the headliner.
McGraw’s decision to begin quietly, rather than immediately unleash his biggest hits, made the contrast even more noticeable.
Why the Show Still Mattered
Despite the pacing concerns, the Target Field concert represented exactly what McGraw had promised when announcing the tour: a night built around an unusually large collection of country hits and musicianship.
The tour itself spans 33 scheduled dates from July through September, with the three stadium shows serving as its most star-studded stops.
For fans, that made the Target Field event something of a country-music marathon — and perhaps one where the biggest challenge wasn’t finding enough great performers, but figuring out how to make five acts and decades of hits fit smoothly into one evening.
McGraw may have had trouble following The Chicks, but the packed lineup also showed just how much firepower the Pawn Shop Guitar Tour brought to Minneapolis.
Bottom line: The Target Field show wasn’t short on talent. Its biggest weakness was the pacing of a five-act bill, which left McGraw with the unenviable task of closing a very long night after The Chicks had already made a strong impression.