August 8, 2025 – I don’t ride into the city often. Most days, my horizon’s stitched with barbed wire and corn stalks, not brick facades and neon marquees. But when word drifted through the wind that Cody Jinks was bringing his outlaw gospel to The Met Philadelphia, I cinched my saddle tight and pointed my pickup east, dust in my wake like a comet’s tail.
Photos + Article by @a.j.kinney
Before the first note even touched the air, the streets outside the venue felt like a fairground for grown-up drifters. An outdoor beer garden spilled onto Broad Street, foam-capped pints clinking like spurs in the night. A DJ stood at the helm, spinning a strange-but-fitting blend of country licks and city beats. Philly was wearing its best grin, and for a moment, I forgot I wasn’t standing outside some honky-tonk back home. The weather—warm enough to keep your hat on, cool enough to keep your shirt dry—was the kind of rare gift you don’t take for granted.
Inside, The Met glowed like a saloon chandelier—grand, gold, and a little dangerous if you looked at it too long. The production matched the man: stage lights smoky and unpretentious, shadows curling across the walls like campfire stories made flesh.
Jinks didn’t waste time. He stepped up and planted his boots with the quiet authority of a man who’s buried more than a few demons out on the trail. “Outlaws and Mustangs” opened the set, a reminder that most of us wander between the fences, and it rolled straight into “What Else is New”—a confession dressed as a song.
The night ran thick with grit and gold. Old flames like “I’m Not the Devil” and “Same Kind of Crazy as Me” sat shoulder-to-shoulder with fresh cuts off his 2025 album In My Blood—“Change the Game”, “Sober Thing”, and “Found” carried the scent of new leather, unbroken but already trusted. “Must Be the Whiskey” got the crowd stomping so hard you could feel the floorboards ache.
And then came the unexpected—the outlaw doffing his hat to the rock gods with a crackling cover of AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’N’ Roll)”. The crowd roared like cattle in a stampede, city folk and country kin alike throwing their voices into the night air.
By the time “Hippies and Cowboys thundered through the hall, I swear I could smell rain on the horizon. “Fast Hand” brought us to that quiet place Jinks seems to know too well—the part of the night where the whiskey’s half gone and the truth’s half told. “Loud and Heavy” closed the curtain, leaving the room in the kind of silence that feels earned, like the last mile of a long ride home.
Cowboy’s Ledger:
- Pre-show watering hole: Outdoor beer garden, DJ on the decks, city swagger meets frontier charm.
- Weather: Like a handshake from an old friend; warm, firm, and honest.
- Production: Lean, mean, and lit like an open range under a full moon.
- Setlist: A balanced herd: fresh foals from In My Blood running alongside the old warhorses.
- Verdict: Philly, you proved you can hold your liquor and your country in the same hand. Cody Jinks carved a notch in the rail of The Met and left the night smelling faintly of dust and redemption.
