Saturday, August 15th burned bright and warm for the 2nd Annual Country MusicFest at Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, MA. Starting at 12:00pm and running until 6:00pm, the music never let up. Performing for the day were some of the best local and national talents.
At 12:00pm on the side stage, where they remained for the day playing between the acts on the main stage, was The Darren Bessette Band. The local New England band played both original songs, such as ‘Slant Six’ and ‘Northern Winds’ and cover songs such as ‘Jolene,’ originally sung by Dolly Parton and ‘Girl Crush,’ Little Big Town’s smash hit.
After The Darren Bessette Band finished their first set at 12:30pm on the side stage, Massachusetts native Shanna Jackman started her nine-song set list on the main stage. Shanna opened the show with a bang, performing the Miranda Lambert song, ‘Gunpowder and Lead.’ Jackman performed several other cover songs which included ‘Hell on Heels,’ by the Pistol Annies, ‘Love Me Like You Mean It,’ Kelsea Ballerini’s number one hit, and the Band Perry hit, ‘Better Dig Two.’ Shanna, a Nashville recording artist, performed tunes from her self-titled EP, such as ‘Go Ahead’ and ‘We’ve Got Your Back.’ Jackman, a huge supporter of the military and their families, welcomed three local Veterans to join her on stage while she sang her song, ‘We’ve Got Your Back.’ The song Shanna wrote with another local woman artist, was written after the marathon bombing in support of the victims and was Jackman’s contribution to Boston Strong. Ending her set with the Sugarland song, ‘Got To Be Something More,’ Shanna welcomed a special guest to join her in singing the song. The audience was treated to a duet when Jackman was joined on stage by The Voice’s Kristen Merlin.
After a thirty minute break on the main stage, during which time the Darren Bessette Band kept the crowd entertained on the side stage, Alec MacGillivray had his turn to bring the energy to the crowd. His first song was an original hit titled, ‘Tom Petty.’ While MacGillivray was singing the song he changed the lyrics “it’s just you and me and Tom Petty” to “it’s just you and me and Tom Brady,” much to the delight of the audience, who immediately burst into applause. Performing both cover songs and originals, Alec entertained us with a fifteen-song set list. Original songs included ‘Sixteen,’ ‘Can’t Escape the Radio,’ ‘Mascara Stains,’ and ‘Lonely.’ Cover songs performed by MacGillivray were, ‘I’m Gone,’ by Chris Cagle, ‘God Love Her,’ by Toby Keith and the song by Luke Bryan, ‘Sun Tan City.’ Alec left the stage at 2:45pm and the stage was set up for the next act, the Houston Bernard Band.
The Houston Bernard Band, the official ‘Band of the Summer’ for Country 102.5, entertained us with an eleven-song set list. Opening with, ‘Country Crowd,’ an original song from their just released album ‘Knockin’ Boots,’ Houston’s deep baritone and Boston style country twang, kept the attention of ladies in the audience for the full hour he was on stage. Also performed from the album were, ‘Shut up and Kiss Me,’ ‘It Ain’t Gonna Drink Itself,’ and the fun and silly song, ‘Yoga Pants.’ The Houston Bernard Band will be releasing the song, ‘Home is in Your Arms’ as a single off of ‘Knockin’ Boots’, with a Kickstarter campaign. They wrote, recorded, produced, and released the ‘Knockin’ Boots’ album themselves and are looking to take their album and the single nationally, by creating a compelling music video and booking a radio tour. There are many incentives and prizes for fans who become part of the Kickstarter campaign, from autographed setlists, to a full band performance with lights and sounds for you and your friends. The Houston Bernard Band ended their set with ‘Knockin’ Boots,’ the title track from the album.
The time had come and at 4:45pm the main act of the Country MusicFest, Kristian Bush, entered the stage and opened his set of eleven songs with ‘Waiting on an Angel.’ The song is from ‘Southern Gravity,’ Bush’s debut album as a solo artist. He immediately went into ‘Make Another Memory’ and after he finished the song he stopped to chat with the crowd. “It’s the guy from Sugarland and he can sing! I see you! You guys don’t know any of these songs so don’t be singing them at me like you know this song. You don’t know this next song. It’s not your favorite song you don’t even know it yet.”
If you didn’t know it before, you certainly would have figured it out by watching his performance on the stage; Kristian Bush is a pretty funny guy. Bush’s stage presence was friendly and approachable. He made everyone feel like family. He often pointed out specific people in the audience, like a comedian would do, to joke with them. He even took a selfie with three fans. Before Kristian sang a number, he would take the time to introduce the meaning of the song or the reason why he wrote it.
Before he sang the song ‘Love or Money’ he had this to say, “in this life we do things and it’s sad but we do it for one of two reasons. 1. We do them for love. 2. Or money.” He sang the first verse and then cued the audience to help him sing the chorus, only the crowd did not sing loud enough for Kristian. “That sucked. I need the people in the tent there smoking the smoke to start singing.” You can bet the next time he asked for audience participation, they took it up a few notches and sang as loud as they could.
‘Trailer Hitch’ was performed next. The song is the first single off of Bush’s album. Bush co-wrote the song with Tim Owens and his brother, Brandon Bush. Brandon plays keyboards in Kristian’s band. Bush gave his appreciation to radio stations thanking them for playing the song. “It reaffirms my belief that music should do one of two things; it needs to either want you to shake your hips, or explode your heart. If it’s not doing one of those two things, maybe you ought to turn it off.” Kristian and the band demonstrated for the audience how shaking your hips is done by synchronizing a dance while performing the song. Bush even had the audience dancing right along with them.
‘Baby Girl’ was then performed. The song was Sugarland’s debut single and it went to number two on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart in 2005. You could hear all of the voices of the fans in the crowd singing loud and clear. ‘Baby Girl’ was for sure an all venue sing along. Continuing on with the next song on the set list, Bush sang ‘Flip Flops,’ the fifth track off of ‘Southern Gravity.’
The next song on the agenda was ‘Bar With a Pool In It.’ “I don’t know if you have ever seen one of these things before. Have you ever seen a swim up bar?” With the sun blazing in the sky and the air thick with humidity at Wachusett Mountain that day, I’m sure the crowd was wishing they were sitting on a stool at a swim up bar.
Bush’s next three songs were the Sugarland hit ‘Stuck Like Glue,’ and from ‘Southern Gravity,’ ‘Feeling Fine California,’ and ‘Giving It Up.’ Here is how ‘Giving It Up’ came about. “Have you ever woken up first thing in the morning and you are just lying in your bed, and you haven’t moved yet and you say to yourself, ‘Today is the day.’ Today is the day that you are giving up your bad love, going to stop smoking, going to start exercising, going to start eating right, and you haven’t even moved yet. But in that tiny little space, between when you open your eyes and when you start your day, is the most magical space ever, because anything is possible.”
Bush closed his show with the Sugarland hit, ‘All I Want To Do.’ Kristian Bush not only sang his songs with enthusiasm and exuberance, but his fans had the special opportunity to hear how or why the songs were written as well. In doing so, he made the audience feel closer to him as an artist, and hopefully, allowed them to relate the lyrics of his songs in a way that reminded them of something that has happened in their own lives. We hope Kristian enjoyed his time here in New England as much as we enjoyed having the opportunity to hear him sing his songs and tell his stories because through Kristian we had the chance to take a trip to California and sit at a bar in the pool wearing our flip flops.
Concert recap by Lorraine Frigoletto, contributing writer for New England Country Music. You can follow me on Twitter.