It was their sixth time playing in the Boston area in 2015, and their third playing at the Royale Nightclub in the heart of Boston’s theater district. Leading up to the show Old Dominion, leadman Matthew Ramsey told us, “It’s the third time we’ve played there this year so we were a little bit worried about the attendance.” But it turned out that there was no need to worry about attendance. Boston fans flocked to the ticket sites and scooped up all of the tickets, making their Boston finale a sold-out show.
Lucas Hoge has been around for awhile, even if you may not recognize his name. The super talented Nebraska native was tapped to open the night in Boston for Old Dominion and rightfully so- he did his job and got the crowd warmed up with a nine-song set. Hoge kicked the night off with ‘Shoo Fly’ and ‘Mad Dog’ which is a nod to Mad Dog 20/20, a cheap wine that he’s a fan of. Before playing the latter, Hoge asked the crowd if they knew what Mad Dog 20/20 and of course many fans did and let Hoge know with some cheers. His set continued with ‘Flip Flops’ and ‘Holdin’ On’ before playing ‘Power of Garth,’ an homage to the country music legend. While it may have been cold and rainy outside, Hoge tried to bring some warmth into the room with ‘Soak It Up,’ a song he led up to by saying, “We were sitting on the beach in Mexico when I wrote this song.” As his set was coming to an end, Lucas would play ‘Something Like That’ and a cover of John Mellencamp’s ‘Pink Houses,’ which had the crowd singing and dancing along. To wrap his night up, he would play the flirty and playful ‘Halabamalujha,’ which has this almost-bayou rock feel.
The back LED screen lit up with the Old Dominion logo and the crowd stopped what they were doing and immediately locked eyes on the stage. The buzz increased as did the screams, especially when the crowd saw the band descend down the stairs from their green room to the stage. With bottles of beer in hand, they saluted the crowd, saying hello. After putting their drinks down, the lights came up as the first chords of ‘Shut Me Up’ began to blare through the speakers. From the first song, Old Dominion had the crowd singing along to every word of every song. They followed ‘Shut Me Up’ with ‘Dirt On A Road,’ Ramsey saying afterwards, “This is gonna be a gooooooood night.” And boy was he right- it wasn’t just a good night, it was a great night and it was just getting started.
It’s been just a few weeks since Old Dominion released their debut studio album, titled ‘Meat and Candy,’ and Ramsey made sure the crowd knew so by saying that they wanted to play the whole thing- and they would do just that throughout the night. They started with ‘Said Nobody’ before moving into the first single off the album, ‘Snapback,’ during which Brad Tursi got up on top of one of the speakers, playing his guitar. As the song faded out, Ramsey influenced the crowd in doing one last ‘oh oh ohhhh’ saying afterwards, “that’s what I’m talking about!”
One of the most impressive things about this 5-man band is the number of songs they have written and were recorded by other artists. And for this band, they don’t need to fill a setlist with a bunch of cover for a headlining show as some other acts do. They have the ability to sing both their original songs and those songs they have written. It’s one of our favorite parts of an Old Dominion show. Trevor Rosen started it off with his version of ‘Sangria,’ which was recorded by Blake Shelton. With more soul in his voice than Shelton, the fans loved his rendition as he took over center stage with his guitar in hand. Tursi followed Rosen’s ‘Sangria,’ with a hit song of his own- ‘A Guy Walks Into A Bar.’ We particularly love Tursi’s version as he has this really unique voice to couple with his incredible guitar skills. Ramsey took the lead back for a performance of Dierks Bentley’s ‘Say You Do,’ which was his first No. 1 song as a songwriter and one that he wrote with Rosen. Fans were swaying to every chord and singing along to the powerful and moving ballad.
With fans around us in awe of how many songs they have written, Old Dominion got back to some original stuff with the sexy ‘Nowhere Fast’ and the always-energetic ‘Can’t Get You,’ a song that they have not been recorded yet fans have come to know and love from their live performances. Ramsey even admits that there is ‘no reason the fans should know the song,’ yet the diehards did, as the song is full of energy and really gets the show going like a shot of Red Bull. Prior to the next song, Ramsey explained, “One of the first times we saw Kenny Chesney perform this was right here in Boston.” Well, actually, Ramsey and Tursi helped Chesney perform ‘Save It For A Rainy Day’ at Gillette Stadium back in August.
Getting back to the album, the guys played the flirtatious ‘Half Empty’ and ‘Beer Can In A Truck Bed’ before playing the final song on the album, ‘We Got It Right.’ While it may be the last song on their album, it most definitely wasn’t the last song of the night. The band played Sam Hunt’s ‘Ex To See,’ a song that Ramsey co-wrote with Sam and Josh Osborne. Next up was ‘Song For Another Time,’ our personal favorite on the album. But the majority of fans wanted to see the band perform one certain song- their first No. 1 song as a band, ‘Break Up With Him.’ And as Ramsey began to sing the song, he was drowned out by the crowd as they were singing along to every word of the song, and doing so louder than he was.
The band finished their set with ‘Wrong Turns,’ but as they took the stairs back up to their green room, the crowd wasn’t having it. The chant of ‘encore, encore, encore’ came from all around the room and Old Dominion obliged. As they took the stage and the lights came up, Ramsey was in a customized Patriots jersey, presumably from this summer’s shows at Gillette Stadium. Old Dominion wrapped up their night at Royale with the tongue-twisting ‘Til It’s Over,’ off their new album, and another song they wrote, Craig Morgan’s ‘Wake Up Loving You.’
As 2015 comes to an end, with one of their final shows of the year in Boston, it’s remarkable to see what these guys have done. It was just only a little over a year ago that they were a largely unknown band opening for Chase Rice. Now they are headlining their own shows while also spending their summers on the road with Kenny Chesney. Old Dominion is here and here for the long haul. We’re excited to see what 2016 has in store for Old Dominion and we know the city of Boston is as excited to see them again as we are. Hopefully that’s before the Gillette Stadium shows.