Country music fans from all over packed Terminal 5 Saturday night, and the majority of them sported Texas gear to celebrate the 11th Annual Salute to Texas Independence Day featuring Texas artists Kyle Park, Aaron Watson, Eli Young Band, and Pat Green.
It was a jam-packed evening filled with 5 hours of Texas country music that was kicked off by Kyle Park. Aaron Watson continued the celebration singing crowd favorites such as “That Look”, “Kiss That Girl Goodbye”, and “Run Wild Horses.”
Watson paid tribute the heroes in the room and said: “I’ll tell ya, I’ve been around the world making music and we are blessed to live in the greatest nation in the whole wide world. We need to take time to give credit where credit is due, so all the veterans, the act of duty service men and woman, raise your hands. All the law enforcement officers and firemen get your hands up!” Over the cheers of the crowd, he sang “Raise Your Bottle”.
Another special moment was when Watson told the crowd, “Of all the songs that I’ve written this one means the most to me, this was the first song after my wife and I lost our little girl.” He continued, “There might be somebody out there tonight who is just hanging on by a thread, somebody who is having a hard time like I was and just want you to know, I know how you feel, I love you, God bless you, hang in there,” and he sang the beautifully written and moving song, “July In Cheyenne”.
Watson told everyone after he met Pat Green in the ’90s at a 150 person show, it was then he realized “I want to play Texas music for the rest of my life.” He played an ode to Texas with “Bluebonnets”, and “They Don’t Make Em’ Like They Used To” before closing out his set with the hit song, “Outta Style.” Watson said, “Thank you for helping to show country music that cowboys are never going “Outta Style!”
Next up were the multi-platinum selling artists straight from North Texas: Eli Young Band. A few days prior to the show, they announced they are releasing This Is Eli Young Band (Greatest Hits) album on March 29th. Fans were lucky enough to hear many of the cuts from their upcoming record, and they kept the energy level high as they sang hit after hit with “Always the Love Songs”, “Where Were You”, “Saltwater Gospel”, and “Love Ain’t”.
Young took a moment to dedicate “Skin and Bones” to his wife that was there in the audience, and sang another longtime fan favorite “Guinevere.” Young said, “Still to this day, it is absolutely positively one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written and been a part of writing, it is a song we wrote about a girl named Guinevere.” The crowd loved every minute of their set especially during “Drunk Last Night”, and they sang every word to “Crazy Girl”, and “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”.
Closing out the night, Pat Green took the stage and said: “If you didn’t know how badass New York City was, you wouldn’t be here at all – NYC is bad to the bone!” The chants for “Pat Green” rang loud throughout his set as he sang favorites like “Take Me Out to A Dancehall”, “Baby Doll”, “Songs About Texas”, and “Texas On My Mind.” Green even treated the crowd with a Springsteen cover of “Atlantic City.” Everyone sang along to his biggest hits “Feels Just Like It Should” and the final song of the night “Wave on Wave.”
Everything may be “bigger” in Texas, but the fans in the Big Apple sure did prove they can throw a huge Texas party alongside Kyle Park, Aaron Watson, Eli Young Band, and Pat Green. Green closed out the show by saying, “Thank you for having us, this is an amazing place, and we are lucky to be here.” All of the artists joined Green on stage and held a big Texas flag for a final goodbye and the crowd loved every second of it!
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