Smoke gets in Tim McGraw’s eyes but he soldiers on at outdoor Toronto show

McGraw is currently starring in the Netflix western 1883

Published Jul 17, 2026  •  3 minute read

Tim McGraw performs on stage during day three of the 2026 CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium on June 06, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo by Jason Kempin /Getty Images

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Tim McGraw

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RBC Amphitheatre

Thursday night

RATING: *** (3 out of 4)

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It said “Beyond Smoke” in large, neon white letters, high up to the left of the GA lawns, and it’s where fans can go to smoke or vape at the outdoor venue down by the lake.

The irony was that the 59-year-old country music star and sometime actor was performing his Pawn Shop Guitar Tour in a city with the worst air quality in the world — second only to Detroit — due to the wildfires in the province.

So, no, in fact, we were not beyond smoke, but rather in the thick of it.

McGraw acknowledged the dodgy air early on in his hour-and-40-minute concert and managed to make it through despite saying during the beginning of his encore: “The smoke’s starting to get to me.“

However, the singer – looking svelte with finely toned arms in a tight purple t-shirt, jeans, black cowboy hat and tanned cowboy boots before changing into a black shirt and black boots later on – was a trouper.

He began the evening with a six-song acoustic set backed by his eight-piece band, starting with Forget About Us, and highlighted by the song My Best Friend, which McGraw said was a favourite of his wife’s – fellow country star and sometime actress Faith Hill – even if it was hard to sing because it went so high.

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As the song was performed, some movies of the couple, who are parents to three girls, played in the background.

Pawn shop guitars handed out in every city on tour

Hill would be seen later again in the video during the song, Pawn Shop Guitar, which is about the real-life story of McGraw pawning off his high school ring to buy a $25 guitar when he was just starting out in Nashville.

In honour of that story, McGraw has been buying a pawn shop guitar in every city he’s playing on this current tour and handing it out to someone in the audience and Toronto was no different.

McGraw and Hill are also currently starring in the Netflix western, 1883 (a prequel to Yellowstone), and the show’s title and some scenes flashed on McGraw’s large video screen later during the song, The Cowboy In Me, which came toward the end of the encore.

But after the acoustic opener, it was time to plug in for the electric set as the video screen, lights and production finally came to life with Real Man.

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McGraw even ventured to play Song For America, which he explained was about his country’s 250th birthday.

“One day we’ll get it right, I promise you,” said the Democrat.

The singer, who has undergone four back surgeries, a double knee replacement, and treatment for a torn rotator cuff and ruptured disc, which grew so severe that he had to abruptly cancel the end of his 2024 Standing Room Only tour, is definitely in fighting physical form again.

The crowd went nuts for the next song, I Like It, I Love It, and rose to their feet to sing and dance along, and repeated that again for the set-closing  Live Like You’re Dying.

His encore was highlighted by Humble and Kind, which McGraw got the audience to sing a cappella once it had ended, and the evening’s final song, Truck Yeah, as McGraw thanked Canada for making him “feel so welcome.”
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SET LIST

Forget about Us

Just to See You Smile

Where the Green Grass Grows

My Best Friend

Down on the Farm

Don’t Take the Girl

Real Good Man

Indian Outlaw / Magic Carpet Ride

Something Like That

Pawn Shop Guitar

Southern Girl

Song for America

I Like It, I Love It

Felt Good on My Lips

Mexicoma

Live Like You Were Dying

ENCORE:

King Rodeo

The Cowboy in Me

Humble and Kind

Truck Yeah

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