I lost my mom after an eight-year battle with cancer this year. Between that, her first bout with it, and losing my dad to it as well, I know firsthand how it ravages not only your body but your spirit. For that alone, seeing Toby Keith return to the stage after battling stomach cancer with a two-and-a-half-hour set is both an amazing and emotional site to see.

The fact that he still has that redneck in him (kinda like having that dawg in you, but for country singers) is what makes you yell "hell yeah, brother."

As he wrapped up his pro-America anthem "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue," he made sure his audience knew to never apologize for being patriotic. And to the haters, he had two words and one finger for them: "F*ck 'em."

While "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" is one of his more popular songs, if we're all being honest with ourselves, everyone knows what Toby's best song is:

Keith first announced he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in June 2022. He gave the Oklahoman a report of where how he was doing a year later:

I’ve got more wind. And I’m thinking about bringing the band in and setting up, playing two or three days somewhere just to see if I can get through two hours. All I gotta do is see if I can get through two or three nights of work and get a little break in this chemo, and we’ll go back to work.

The plan was to do a rehearsal with his band to see where he was at physically. The dress rehearsal turned into back-to-back shows at his Oklahoma bar Hollywood Corners. Two nights and five hours of live music later, I think it's safe to say Toby is ready.

Continued prayers to the Big Dog Daddy. We could use him back out on the road sooner rather than later.

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Brodigan is Grand Poobah of this here website and when he isn't writing words about things enjoys day drinking, pro-wrestling, and country music. You can find him on the Twitter too.

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