I was back
early the next day and headed straight to the Indigo to catch Sarah Darling, who epitomises dream
country with her easy listening music full of pleasant ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s on
tracks like Blue Sky and Dreams Fade Away. She was very friendly,
chatting with the crowd and offering up a love song to UK fans in the form of Shine, juxtaposed with her love song for
Wyoming, the ultra dreamy Where Cowboys
Ride, and my recommendation for what to listen to if you want to get to
know her.
Next up was Nashies favourite Sam Palladio (I might have been his only fan there courtesy of Netflix’s The Princess Switch) who certainly played more rocky songs than country ones as he jammed out to Hello Heartbreak, one he had written as his character Gunnar’s last song, Goin’ Electric, and another written with a member of Biffy Clyro, Ghost, that didn’t quite make the Nashville soundtrack. The top moment for me was his ‘goodbye to Gunnar’ song Adios Old Friend which stripped back the rock and made for an easy listening, heartfelt track.
I had to head off for an interview with Megan O’Neil during Noah Schnacky’s set, but not before first watching him rock out to Old Dominion’s Break Up With Him, and then woo the crowd as he sat on the side of the stage to sing swoonworthy More Beautiful. Is it a coincidence that two of Noah’s songs (the other being Hello Beautiful) have such a word in them? Something tells me he’s going to be the new young country heartthrob.
Back from my
interview, I caught Travis Denning’s
set, having enjoyed his performance at the CMA Songwriters Series a few nights
prior (you can read about that here). His setup was ideal for me – literally
just him and a guitar on stage which meant we were focusing on the music and
music only. We started with slow songs After
A Few and one he had written for Michael Ray, the beautiful Her World Or Mine (my recommendation for
first song to listen to to get to know Travis – make sure you listen to his
version!)
He then explained that he felt he was a metalhead raised on Southern rock who had fallen in love with country music, and so tried to keep those influences in his music, as exemplified by a track written with Devin Dawson called Snakes & Needles. Whilst on the rockier end of the spectrum which is the side of country I tend to like less, I really enjoyed listening to this as the lyrics were incredibly well thought out – a true mark of a great storyteller and songwriter, something evident throughout all the songs he had penned. We continued on the rocky note with an incredible rendition of Miranda Lambert’s Kerosene – so interesting to hear performed by a male artist and which rightfully garnered huge applause.
Travis
finished with the comment ‘My name is Travis Denning, but I used to be known as
David Ashley Parker from Powder Springs’ leading us nicely into his final song
– David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs
(does what it says on the tin, eh?) Overall, I was very impressed by his
songwriting, and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy – one to watch.
After the
previous nights performance, I was excited to see Runaway June perform on the Radio 2 stage, and was not
disappointed. They really were my kind of music: fun, well thought out lyrics,
and great harmonies which they showed off on tracks like Train Whistle, Blue Roses and Lipstick,
as well as covers of Keith Urban’s Love
Somebody (well, they had technically opened for him the previous night!)
and Dwight Yoakam’s Fast As You. Lipstick made them the first female trio
in a decade to have a top 20 hit on country radio, and I have no doubt they’ll
have many more. What an act.
We headed back to rock with the Canadian James Barker Band (what is it with country music groups being the Somebody Something Band?). Their songs were full of lyrics that would make their mamas proud - take Lawn Chair Lazy: ‘You’re doing nothing too crazy / Just getting lawn chair lazy / It’s the party of the year just sitting here / Somebody hand me a beer, beer, beer’ and Living The Dream: ‘I drink beer and I smoke pot / And I’ve thrown punches in a parking lot’. In all seriousness though, they seemed like cool guys, and if rock country is up your street, these are definitely ones to check out.
I headed off for an interview with Sarah Darling and then into the Arena for first act of the evening, Carly Pearce. Either the sound system was off or she wasn’t used to that type of microphone as she came off initially as a bit screechy, the speakers sounding like they were about to blow out every time she hit a powerful note. As such, I think she might have been better suited perhaps for the Radio 2 stage as it wasn’t the best start to the evening (IMHO), but we did get some redeeming moments in the form of If My Name Was Whiskey, an emotional track about loving someone who loves their drink more; and hit single Every Little Thing, which to be honest, was what we were all there for.
Moving over to the Spotlight stage, we had my new favourites Fairground Saints showing the O2 just what they could do, performing Somewhere Down The Line, California and Mary. They definitely gave me some Little Big Town vibes both in terms of their great harmonisation and also songs that you just want to listen to again and again.
Another major pull of this years lineup for me had been Dustin Lynch, who I think is just a great all rounder. He burst on stage with the pump-up track One Hell Of A Night, immediately showing off just what a showman he was, waving at the audience and getting us all engaged. He has some incredibly catchy songs which he performed including personal favourite I’d Be Jealous Too, Mindreader and new number one song Good Girl, and yet even these catchy tracks were peaked by his performance of Adele’s Someone Like You mashed with Cowboys And Angels. If you don’t hear that song and feel tears pricking your eyes, you probably ought to see someone about it.
Making sure
that we weren’t all going to burst into tears after that, he decided to play a
drinking game with the crowd as he performed a cover of Garth Brooks Friends In Low Places (again, any
country artists who don’t cover this song?), making the crowd drain
their drinks even though we still had most of the night ahead of us. Dustin’s
fantastic set finished with more hits: Seein’
Red and Small Town Boy –
definitely a highlight of the weekend for me.
Back on the Spotlight stage, Catherine McGrath took her place to perform Just In Case, Wild and Lost In The Middle. If you’ve read my C2C reviews before, you’ll know I called her performing in the arena in previous years, as she really is that good. I’ll never not be proud looking back at the fantastic singer I first saw three years ago and thinking ‘that girl’s going somewhere’ My prediction for this year: she’ll be headlining the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire before too long. You heard it here first.
From maybe 2011-2013, if you’d asked me who my favourite country artist was, you probably wouldn’t have been able to finish your question before I blurted out ‘Hunter Hayes!’ His debut album was a revelation to me, and I must have listened to every track on that hundreds of times. Take this as an indication that I was a very big Hunter Hayes fan. So surely watching him play the Main stage at C2C was a good thing?
I hate to
say it, but no. Partway through his set, Hunter explaining that he was
suffering from a sore throat, which was a relief in the very least to the crowd
as a means of explaining why his vocals were a bit…off. Having listened to his
album (hundreds of times!), I knew just how good of a vocalist he was, but I
really think he should have cancelled the gig if his illness was that bad,
because I found myself worrying that all those who weren’t familiar with his
music would think that he really did sound like that – it just wasn’t good, and
it actually hurts me to type that about someone whose music I adored.
On the plus side, his guitar playing during Light Me Up was phenomenal, and his vocals improved dramatically during Invisible, whether that was due to sitting down or just less shout-singing. I also appreciated just how much he opens up in his music, revealing insecurities that must be hard to talk about, let alone share with the world, and yet are so important to let others out there know they’re not alone. This was clear during Invisible, where he spoke about struggling with the feeling that he doesn’t quite fit in, finding his purpose in songwriting; and Dear God (lyrics like: ‘And why does my life have to hurt so much? / Why can’t I find any peace and love? / And why do I feel like I’m not enough? / Dear God, are you sure that you don’t mess up?’) He writes great music and I truly believe he’s a great singer. Hunter, I love you, just come back when you’re better to prove just how good you are.
The fangirls
were out in force for Michael Ray on
the Spotlight stage as he performed Think
A Little Less (co-written by Thomas
Rhett), Her World Or Mine (co-written
by Travis Denning), and One That Got Away (co-written by Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey – damn,
there are some pretty good mainstream singer-songwriters out there!)
That evening’s headliners were the glorious Lady Antebellum, and it didn’t take longer than one song (I Run To You) before the whole crowd were on their feet. Hillary was chatty and fun as she and her bandmates performed their hits Hey Bartender, Just A Kiss, Heart Break, Compass and American Honey. Prior to this concert, I had no Lady Antebellum songs on my phone, and yet was surprised at just how many they knew. For a band who aren’t necessarily the first to spring to mind when you (or at least, I) think of country music, they sure have a lot of recognisable songs.
Hilary and Charles shared the stage as they treated us to new song What If I Never Get Over You and Just Looking For A Good Time, before Charles headed into the crowd during a cover of Suspicious Minds, slapping hands with fans as he ran on by. Back on stage, we were told that they had made the decision to change the setlist from their usual US set, Charles mentioning that during his hiatus he had come more in touch with his spirituality and so performed the next song, Hello World, with different meaning before. I, for one, felt that it certainly turned the O2 into a country music church of sorts.
I also loved
how they took a moment to praise Dave Haywood as the brains and glue of the
band. It’s undeniable that Dave often takes a backseat to the other two, so
seeing him get the credit he deserves was really pleasant. They stripped things
back, sitting on stools to perform a mashup of A Good Thing, Dancing Away With My Heart and Wanted You More, their voices ringing clear across the arena.
Hunter and Carly were brought back on stage for a sexy rendition of Niall Horan’s Slow Hands before we moved into the party section of their show, courtesy of the poppy You Look Good, groovy Downtown and rocky Love Don’t Live Here Anymore. As if you had to ask, Lady A provided us a very satisfying encore of Need You Now (how can you not love that song?) and We Own The Night. A surprising highlight of the festival for me, and yes, I now have all of their albums downloaded to my phone. Call me a Lady A fan.
I hope you enjoyed today's review! Make sure to leave me a message in
the comments and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for even more
reviews and interviews coming soon - thanks for reading!
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