Concert Review: Old Dominion Play Intimate Dive Bar Show in NYC…
Just days after joining Kenny Chensey on his Gillette Stadium arena tour dates, Old Dominion looked out into a very different sized crowd. A very lucky group of one hundred of their super fans were chosen to win tickets to their last Bud Light Dive Bar Tour stop which took place Wednesday, August 30th at Arlene’s Grocery in downtown New York City. “Hold em’ up! We’ve got a lot to celebrate tonight, a new number one single and an album release” lead singer Matthew Ramsey said while holding up an ice cold Bud Light to cheers with the crowd.
Continuing their album release week, they played each song off of Happy Endings. In such a tiny venue not only were the fans just feet away from the live music but the five band members themselves were standing close to each other, allowing for smiles back and forth throughout the set as well as perfecting their harmonies.
Shuffling the songs from the album, they opened the 90-minute set with “Not Everything’s About You” transitioning to two high energy songs, “Girl Is A Gun” and “Can’t Get You”. In between songs, lead singer Matt Ramsey joked, “Dive bars man, you’ve gotta go get your own damn guitars, nobody brings it out for you.” which then encouraged the sentimental response from Trevor Rosen…”It’s just like the old days”. Now with three number one hits under their belts, the old days of playing intimate venues are long gone for this chart topping band which made Wednesday night so special.
Explaining to the crowd that “So You Go” became the inspiration for the title of their album, stating that the song leaves the ending up in the air, allowing fans to make assumptions on whether or not the story has a happy ending. Meeting expectations, the NYC crowd sang along to every word of “New York at Night” which Brad Tursi takes lead vocals on, giving the song a different sound while still keeping that classic Old Dominion feel.
The next song, “Still Writing Songs About You” is written from a songwriters perspective, which the band members identify most clearly with, having written hits for Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton and many more popular country artists. “I did an interview earlier today and I told them how our fans treat us like songwriters and they pay attention to what we say and what we do. It feels really good to know that you care enough to take it all in.” Ramsey says to the crowd.
Saving their latest number one hit for last, “No Such Thing as a Broken Heart” every person in the room was singing every word, making it a highlight of the night. After playing songs off their sophomore album, they couldn’t leave the stage without singing just a few hits off their debut album Meat and Candy. The set included their two other number one hit songs “Break Up With Him” and “Song For Another Time” as well as asking what the crowd wanted to hear, over all consensus being “Crazy Beautiful Sexy”.
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