The 95-degree weather did not stop Long Island’s country music fans from coming to Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater on Saturday night to see the Can’t Say I Ain’t Country tour containing its star-studded lineup of HARDY, Canaan Smith, Morgan Wallen, Dan + Shay and headliners, Florida Georgia Line.
HARDY was first up. His 15-minute set included songs such as “4X4”, “ALL SHE LEFT WAS ME” and his break-out hit, “REDNECKER”. HARDY also performed Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country”, a song which he wrote for Shelton with Devin Dawson and Jordan Schmidt. The song has been number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart for the past two weeks.
Canaan Smith performed in between sets. The singer-songwriter released his first studio album Bronco in 2015 which featured “Love You Like That”; a track that hit number one on the Country Airplay chart and was certified platinum. He performed that one along with some of his new, unreleased music, including “Country Boy Things”, “Poor Decisions” and “Beer Drinking Weather”.
Morgan Wallen, who came out wearing his signature cut-sleeve plaid shirt and rocking his long, flowing mullet, began his set with three up-beat, drinking songs in “Whatcha Know ‘Bout That”, “Happy Hour” and his number one, certified platinum smash hit “Up Down”. After performing his first single “The Way I Talk”, Wallen slowed it down and sang “Chasin’ You”, his next single to country radio. “Life ain’t always a party….sometimes life sucks a little bit, you know? I think music is supposed to get you through the partying and through the times that piss you off.” Wallen closed his set with “If I Know Me”, the title track off his debut album and then a crowd favorite “Whiskey Glasses”. Everyone in the audience was singing along to his most recent number one hit, which warmed up the fans for the next act, Dan + Shay.
Check out our interview with Morgan just before he hit the stage in the video below.
Dan + Shay performed seven songs from their self-titled third album in their eleven song set. The Grammy-winning duo began with four of them including “Alone Together”, “All To Myself”, “What Keeps You Up at Night” and “Make or Break”. “We got the hottest day in New York at Jones Beach and we appreciate you coming out early” Dan Smyers admired the lively audience. “We saw you guys in the parking lot, getting s**t started. From the minute we walked on stage, left to right, front to back, all the way up in the bleachers…you’ve been on your feet. Jones Beach, thank you so much! We love you, we love you, we love you!”
The 2019 ACM and Billboard country duo of the year covered all three albums through the next four songs: “Nothing Like You” from 2014’s Where It All Began, “Keeping Score” from Dan + Shay and “From the Ground Up” and “How Not To” from 2016’s Obsessed. Before “Speechless” a computerized voice instructed the fans to take out the flashlights on their phones for the next song. The crowd lit up Jones Beach as Smyers and Shay Mooney performed their award-winning ballad.
After “19 You + Me”, Smyers addressed the audience again, praising the energy they brought to the set. “The next three and a half minutes could be the loudest of the whole tour. Can we make it happen?” The duo performed their triple-platinum, Grammy award-winning, ACM Single and Song of the Year, “Tequila” to close the set and get the fans ready for the headliners, Florida Georgia Line.
When the curtains came down the fans were exposed to the decorative stage put together by the FGL crew. The country duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley were sitting on ATVs with a barn displayed on the screen behind them and an inflatable wood silo/water tower prop with “FGL” written on it; fitting the Can’t Say I Ain’t Country theme. Five of FGL’s first seven songs were from their new album, including “Colorado”, “Can’t Say I Ain’t Country”, “Y’all Boys”, “Speed of Love” and “Can’t Hide Red”. “Cruise and “Confession” were featured in between. Before “Speed of Love”, the silo was taken down to enlarge the screen, which showed highlights of NASCAR races.
Florida Georgia Line, along with The Independence Fund, has been presenting wounded warriors with specialized wheelchairs at each stop of the tour. Saturday night was no different as the duo brought veteran, Kevin Miller of the Army National Guard on the stage after performing “Dirt”. This influenced the crowd to begin a USA chant and instilled patriotism throughout the venue.
After “Anything Goes”, FGL brought Canaan Smith back out to help them sing “Get Your Shine On” from their debut album Here’s To the Good Times. Just like during “Speechless”, the crowd lit up the sky by shining their flashlights to the 2013 party anthem. Hubbard told the fans that people have complained to him about how all of Florida Georgia Line’s songs are about partying, drinking, tailgating, fishing, etc. His response was “Well, hell yeah. What do you want us to sing about? But then we look at those people and say ‘hold on, you must’ve not listened to the new album because you know we did make a baby-making song.’ You know it does work really, really well; twice for me. So be careful with this one, Jones Beach.” “Talk You Out Of It” was next on the setlist.
Hubbard took a seat near the piano to perform the 2017 Billboard top country song and lead single off their third album Dig Your Roots “H.O.L.Y.” Dan + Shay came back out on stage to sing this with FGL, which caused an uproar of the fans. Mooney’s stunning tenor voice mashed with Hubbard’s southern twang created a beautiful rendition of this award-winning love song. Catch a snippet of the collaboration by clicking here.
After “May We All”, Morgan Wallen came back out on stage to sing “Up Down” again, this time with FGL. The stage went dark for a while when lights descended down from atop the stage, resembling the final scene of the music video for “Simple”; the first of three encore songs the duo performed. Although a New York native, Bebe Rexha was not in attendance for this show so Hubbard asked the crowd if they could sing her part in the 2019 Billboard Top Country Song, “Meant To Be”. “We wanna sing a song that changed our lives and we need you guys to help us out; is that cool?” FGL performed a crowd favorite and four-time platinum, party song, “This Is How We Roll” to end a fun, electrifying night at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater. For exclusive videos from the show, head to our Instagram Story Highlights.
The Can’t Say I Ain’t Country tour will head south to Virginia and North Carolina next weekend. For those who live in upstate, NY, the tour will be stopping in Syracuse on August 15th and at Darien Lake on August 24th.
To keep up with Florida Georgia Line and the tour, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
—————————-
Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!
Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!
+ Follow our country music adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook:
