Chris Young, Dan + Shay, & Morgan Evans at Nash 94.7 Holiday Bash

Friday night (Dec. 7), Nash FM 94.7 took over Chris Young’s ‘Losing Sleep Tour’ with special guests Dan + Shay and Morgan Evans and transformed the talented lineup into the country radio station’s first ever Nash Holiday Bash. New York country music fans filled up the arena at Nassau Coliseum, anxiously awaiting the show to begin.

Nash FM 94.7 DJs Katie Neal and Jesse Addy took the stage to welcome the crowd and to introduce Evans’ opening set. The rising country star entered the stage with nothing but his acoustic guitar and loop pedal. This is not out of the ordinary for Evans, as this is the way he always performs live to truly showcase his undeniable musical talents. Opening his set with his latest single “Day Drunk,” the playful upbeat jam began to warm the crowd up. Evans continued to play “American” from his debut album, Things That We Drink To, then explained that he wrote hundreds of songs for his the album but only 11 could make the cut.  He told the crowd that he was so proud when another artist recorded one of his songs and he proceeded to play his own rendition of Dylan Scott’s current radio hit “Hooked.” With the crowd on their feet, Evans began to play his final song of his set which was his first ever number one single “Kiss Somebody.” Fans screamed the lyrics back to the singer-songwriter, until Evans took a moment before the last chorus to speak to the crowd, letting them know that every person who purchased a copy of Things That We Drink To at the merchandise tables, would be meeting him after the show so he could thank each and every one of them personally.

Neal and Addy returned to the stage a few moments after Evans exited, to introduce super-duo Dan + Shay. The arena erupted into cheers and screams as Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney began their set with their debut single “19 You + Me.” The duo continued performing their hit singles, “Nothin’ Like You,” “From The Ground Up” and “How Not To.” Along with a few songs from their newest self-titled album including “All To Myself,” “Alone Together,” “Make or Break” and their fastest growing single “Speechless.” Asking the crowd if there were any Rascal Flatts fans in the audience, the two sang “I Like The Sound Of That,” which Mooney co-wrote. Smyers took a moment to speak to the crowd, “Before we get out of here, we gotta play the song that has changed our lives this year. Just this morning, we woke up in the parking lot and found out the damn song was nominated for two Grammy awards, thank you for that. This is our first time performing the song being nominated for a Grammy in our entire career and it would mean the world to us if we make this the loudest sing-along we’ve ever heard.” Fans did exactly that. Every person inside of the arena screamed the lyrics right back to Mooney and Smyers. Click here to watch the moment from on our Instagram. The crowd and the duo continuously fed off of each other’s energy, making their set a sincere highlight of the entire night.

The Nash Holiday Bash wouldn’t be complete without a headliner, country superstar Chris Young took the stage to perform his biggest hits.  Young who has had success with 11 singles hitting the number one spot on the charts chose to highlight songs from his of his albums, kicking the night off with “Losing Sleep” then throwing it back to some of his first singles, “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song)” and “Voices”.

Being that this was a holiday celebration, Young took the time to explain that he had learned requests when he was playing a Mexican restaurant in Nashville before getting his record deal and he learned this next song. “This is sort of an unknown Christmas song but it’s definitely a country Christmas song on Alan Jackson’s record that I listened to as a kid and I asked him to be a part of my record and sing it with me, and he did.” He then played “New Kid In Town” which is on his holiday album, It Must Be Christmas. 

Young recalled the last time he was in the venue, eight years ago,  he was opening for Luke Bryan who was opening for Rascal Flatts. “That shows you how long this has been, this has been my journey, and I was not kidding when I said I was going to say ‘Thank you’ a lot, I’ve got the microphone, you can’t stop me…” he laughed. “Thank you for an incredible year.” In between songs, the crowd gathered in a giant U.S.A chant, and overwhelmed with gratitude for our great country and his fans, the singer-songwriter stood at the microphone silent, allowing the chant to continue until it erupted into cheers. Closing out the night with an encore of “Man I Want to Be” and “I’m Comin’ Over” the audience sang along to every single word of Young’s entire set, making it one hell of a Friday night.

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