The rapper’s headlining BottleRock performance turned this Post Malone agnostic into a devout believer. 

You may not think you know many Post Malone songs. You Do. His songs are such a constant on the radio, at parties and in ads that one knows the words almost by osmosis. Three of his first four songs (“Wow,” “I Like You” and “Better Now”) have  spent a combined 132 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

Malone was last seen at a California festival ruining Bad Bunny’s Coachella set. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case on Friday. The artist turned in a high octane, if clearly tipsy, performance in which he appeared to genuinely want to put on the best show he could for the BottleRock audience.

At one point midway through the set, Post Malone said he was going to play an acoustic song. But before he could start, a fan who claimed to be able to play the song from the heart got his attention. The fan, a young man named Luke, was brought onstage and proceeded to play flawless guitar as Malone sang “Stay.” So in-sync were Luke and Malone that more than a few fans in the crowd began theorizing that he must have been a plant.  

“Should me and Luke start a band? Me, Luke, and Billy Strings , how about that?” asked Malone, name dropping bluegrass artist Billy Strings who had played BottleRock earlier in the day. Malone also wore a Billy Strings t-shirt throughout the set. 

Bringing a fan on stage, plant or not, is not a new idea. Malone’s heroes Green Day did the same thing last year at Outside Lands, but the move further cemented that feeling that Malone truly loves and cares about his fans.  

The BottleRock performance coincided with Malone’s daughter’s first birthday and while he told the crowd he was “so happy to be celebrating life,” one got the sense he wished he could have been with her. Malone’s earnestness and dedication can make lyrics like “you was my shawty, I thought” sound genuinely meaningful. When he’s this vulnerable on stage, you don’t mind that he’s using autotune and clearly singing over a soundtrack. 

Not that he was all that serious on stage. He’s a more flamboyant performer than one might expect: throughout the night he strutted about, at one point turning to shake his backside to roars from the crowd. He also smashed an acoustic guitar to bits, although it didn’t appear to be from anger, just something he wanted to try. True to the theme of the night. He gave shards of the broken guitar to audience members as tokens of his gratitude.

The rapper had been in Europe for the past few weeks so he continually told the audience how happy he was to be home. His return also meant the BottleRock crowd got to hear the first-ever stateside performance of “Chemicals,” the lead single from his upcoming album “Austin.” 

After a quick pause, Malone finished the night with “Congratulations” and “White Iverson,” two songs whose videos have each surpassed one billion views on YouTube.  

Is anyone going to confuse Malone for a modern day Dylan or Tupac? I doubt it. But he proved Friday that he didn’t become one of the most popular artists of his generation by accident. 

When I got to my car to drive home after the festival, I turned on the radio. Guess who was on?