Kentucky Grit Meets California Wine Country: Ole 60 at Vina Robles Amp

Stop number four on the “Off The Grid” tour landed Ole 60 at Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles. Summer nights on California’s central coast are perfect for concerts — add a Saturday night into the mix and country music fans will dance the night away. Ole 60 is a fresh up-and-coming band from Kentucky formed back in 2023 after their EP, Three Twenty Four and single “Smoke & a Light,” becoming a rapid success. Now, they are filling up amphitheaters while promoting their full album Smokestack Town (2025) along with their other material.

Before Ole 60 hit the stage, fans got treated by not one, but two, opening acts. First up was Kolton Moore & the Clever Few — this is a band I’ve been lucky enough to see before here on the central coast… so for them to play this venue surely made other locals happy to welcome them back. The Stews were second to perform with high energy and definitely got the crowd pumped up for the main act.

Ole 60’s intro music starts as bass player Colby walks up to front center stage cracks open two beers slams them together — beer showers the crowd signaling that the party is here! With warm stage lights in beautiful shades of orange and yellow, the smoke added to the atmosphere — making for a beautiful night. There were two high risers (one each side of the stage) for the drummer, and the steel guitar player. The rest of the stage remained open for the band to roam.

The night’s set started with “Rose” followed by “Dust 2 Dust” and then “Can’t Take It With You.” This was the first time I have seen a guitar player smoking cigarettes while shredding his six strings. With the band’s fanbase being a younger demographic crowd, the energy was running high all night long — from people getting up on shoulders for a better view to people getting down dancing.

Towards the middle of the set, Ole 60 played a favorite of mine called “Brother Joe” — a very well-written storytelling song with faith, love, and tragedy — definitely worth a listen if you have never heard of it yourself. The band then leaves the stage for Jacob to remain with his acoustic guitar to play “Insane.” Everyone then returns to the stage to perform “Say The Word.” As the night gets closer to the end, a cover song slips into the setlist. To be honest I’m not a Coldplay fan, but Ole 60 did a fantastic job with their cover of “Yellow” — it sounded pretty damn good and fans didn’t have to worry about being exposed a jumbotron (wink wink). The final song of the night is, of course, the one that put them on the map: “Smoke & a Light.” Fans went wild singing out as loud as they could for a night to remember.

Setlist:

Rose
Dust 2 Dust
Can’t Take It With You
Memphis(Outta My Way)
Walls
Next To You
Starting New
Watching Me Bleed
Nutshell
Brother Joe
Insane
Let You Down
Say The word
Nacy Avenue
Thoughts Of You
Yellow
Really Wanna Know
Smoke & A Light

There was no encore for this show, just the band diving straight to the point with their high energy live music party coming to a close. A few lucky fans got items signed by Jacob as he jumped off the stage to meet them at the railing. Ole 60’s social’s state they are “not your father’s country band” — these guys are young and on a mission to pave their own path — and they are certainly doing it fast. If you’re not aware of them, you’ve got time to become a fan as the tour has only just begun.

For those who are already fans, don’t sleep on seeing this tour. While their a range of catalog songs are able to make the setlist, some tracks get pushed away as the new hits roll in — and I’m sure this band will have plenty more and a steady track record ahead. I truly would recommend seeing this band now and then later in the future to compare how much they have grown — and to say you saw them “back in the day.”