To no surprise, there was not an empty seat at City Winery NYC last night. The talented, Charles Esten sold out the show with all his beloved “Nashies” to sing the songs of his Nashville character, Deacon Claybourne along with some of his own original tracks. Being that we were in a winery, Esten started off the night with a drinking game. The rule was simple, every time he mentions Rayna James the audience drinks…which happened a lot. Leaving him joking in the end, “I should have had you slow down, because tomorrow you are going to be drinking even more than tonight!”

Esten started the night off talking about the first song he sang on Nashville, called “Side Show”. After the first song he brought out his friend Colin Linden, telling the audience, “There would be no Nashville without this guy, there certainly would be no Deacon without this guy. When you see Deacon Claybourne singing that is me singing, but when you hear the guitar playing that is the great Colin Linden.” Once Linden was on stage Esten began telling the audience about the next song being his very first performance on Nashville in the Bluebird Café called “Back Home”.

As the night went on, Esten continued to tell stories and joke around, even praising the crowd, “By the way, God Bless you guys, you are as quiet when you are listening as at The Bluebird. That is the kind of musical respect that does not happen everywhere,” He sang some of his favorite songs throughout the night like “No One Will Ever Love You”, “Hymn for Her”, “Like New” and “Sanctuary”.

Esten closed his set with “Good Rain or Jesus”, but came back out shortly after the audience started chanting his name. For the encore, he sang the fan favorite “He Ain’t Me” and of course the song everyone in the room was waiting for “A Life That’s Good”. This song became a part of the show Nashville and its true essence. Before leaving the stage Esten said, “Thank you not just for tonight but for all six years, for giving your hearts to this show.”

After six seasons the series finale of Nashville on CMT airs tonight at 9/8 c.

 

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