Country star Brett Young held nothing back in front of a sold-out crowd when his Chapters Tour stopped at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday night. Fans lined up all the way down 9^th avenue to see the beloved singer-songwriter share the story of his personal life journey on stage.

Matt Ferranti (Photo Credit: @MattFerrantiMusic via Instagram)

Matt Ferranti, Young’s guitar and piano player was given the opportunity to showcase his solo act, opening for his band’s front-man. Donning a Kobe Bryant jersey in honor of the late basketball icon, the Michigan-native displayed five songs from his newly released self-titled EP, including “Love Somebody,” “Heaven to Me,” “Outta My Radio,” “New Ways to Love You,” and the single “Make it to the Bedroom.” Ferranti sings a lot about love in a style very similar to Young’s, and hopefully, we can hear his single receive some radio airtime. If you are unfamiliar with his work, he’s definitely worth a listen.

Young came out on stage twenty minutes later, also honoring Bryant by wearing a ‘MAMBA OUT’ shirt, singing his first radio single, “Sleep Without You.” Throughout the night, Young emphasized how there was a reason this was called The Chapters Tour, and he made that very apparent during his monologues and acoustic set. He was reflective of his life and career and even chronologically ordered the songs in this setlist. Young didn’t perform any tracks from his newest album Ticket to LA until he was finished with the songs off his debut self-titled album which included “Left Side of Leaving,” “Like I Loved You,” “You Ain’t Here to Kiss Me,” “Making Me Say,” and “Close Enough.” He even threw a cover of his idol, Gavin DeGraw’s “Not Over You” in the mix.

Brett Young (Photo Credit: Rob Loud)

“I always thought this next song was for men that had trouble saying how they felt. I’m learning that the longer this song is out, the more women I met that said, ‘Me too! I didn’t know how to say it so I just pressed play and said this is how I feel,’” Young admitted before performing the beautiful ballad, “In Case You Didn’t Know.” “All I ever want to do is be so honest with you guys that you feel like you’re getting to know me a little better with every song. But the coolest thing is that if you’re getting to know me and it feels like you too, that there’s no cooler way to connect with music than that.”

Young then performed a long acoustic set, stopping in between each song, telling stories of playing restaurants in California to moving to Nashville and getting his record deal. He covered songs he used to sing at those small gigs including “Walking in Memphis,” “I Drive Your Truck,” and a track in which he recorded a studio version for, “Hallelujah.” Before each song, he brought out a member of his band, told the story of how they met and spoke about what this particular song means to him. He ended the set and first chapter of the show with his double-platinum, number one, heart-wrenching single, “Mercy.”

Brett Young (Photo Credit: Rob Loud)

The next portion of the show began with the lead single off the most recent album “Here Tonight.” He followed it with “Used to Missing You,” “1, 2, 3 – Mississippi,” “The Ship and the Bottle,” and “Catch” before leaving the stage. He returned with a brand new, unreleased song titled “Lady” which he wrote for his 3-month old daughter. “You can always run to daddy, you’ll always be my baby, but look at her baby girl and you’ll learn how to be a lady” he sings in the chorus. However, Young doesn’t know the future of this track yet. He said it may be exclusive for him, his family and this tour. You can watch the video of the performance below.

“What I knew was if we do The Chapters Tour, we were going to tell a story from when I started playing music, with the injury in baseball, moving to Nashville and ending up here with you guys right now; that song is a very big part of it,” he explained. “If you want to put on a tour called The Chapters Tour, you can’t just not tell the current chapter, right?”

NYCountry Swag’s Stephanie Wagner & Christina Bosch with Brett Young

Young thanked the crowd one last time before closing the show with his most personal track “Chapters.” DeGraw sang his part via video screen as the two harmonized the final chorus to end a memorable night at the Hammerstein Ballroom for both Young and his loving, New York fan base.

Check out more exclusive clips from the shop on our Instagram Highlight. To keep up with Brett Young, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. For more tour dates, head to his website.

—————

SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.