Thursday, January 21st was a frigid night in Lowell, Massachusetts, but inside the warmth of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Chris Young’s I’m Comin’ Over tour was set to kick off.
Cassadee Pope kicked off the night off at 7:30, taking the stage as she waved to the crowd saying, “Welcome to the I’m Comin’ Over tour.” She began her set with ‘Edge of a Thunderstorm’ before covering Martina McBride’s classic hit, ‘This One’s For The Girls.’ After performing ‘I Wish I Could Break Your Heart,’ she began to describe her next song, a song that most had not heard before and she dedicated the song to a long time fan in attendance for her birthday. The song, ‘War Paint,’ is one that Cassadee describes as “edgy and empowering,” and the song definitely gave that vibe. Despite the crowd not knowing the lyrics or anything, she had the crowd rocking to the song. “I can’t think of a better place to start this tour. Thank you for having me,” the Florida-native said prior to performing her 2015 single, ‘I Am Invincible.’ There was only one way for Cassadee to end her set, and that would be with her Platinum-certified hit, ‘Wasting All These Tears.’ After her set, she took some time to meet some fans. And when we say some, we meant probably all of them in attendance! The line to meet Cassadee stretched along nearly the entire bottom corridor of the venue! New England definitely came out in droves for Cassadee Pope despite the freezing cold!
Fans hurried back to their seats as the intermission came to a close. The lights went down and the silhouettes of band members were seen taking the stage. The energy in the room began to rise as the fans started to scream and cheer as Chris Young took the stage to a song off his new album, ‘Underdogs.’ Chris continued with ‘Gettin’ You Home,’ or the song many fans know as ‘The Black Dress Song.’ Midway through the song, Chris explained that after releasing the song, he noticed that many fans were connected with the black dress verse so it was then that they decided to add ‘The Black Dress Song’ to the end of the song title. Next up were a few of our favorites, ‘Voices’ and ‘Lonely Eyes,’ both of which were massive sing-alongs just as ‘Gettin’ You Home’ was. If there was a fan that didn’t know the words to the songs, they were the severe minority in the crowd as it sounded and felt like everyone in attendance was singing along to every word.
After ‘Lonely Eyes,’ the crowd gave Chris an erupting ovation as it was the first small break between songs. He responded by saying, “I didn’t even do anything yet. Y’all can keep screaming. We’re gonna have fun tonight.” Chris continued, “Where are all the single people at tonight? Sweet, this song has NOTHING to with you (laughing). Go and find one of the other single people who just screamed and dance with them.” The song was ‘Who I Am With You,’ from Chris’ 2013 album, ‘A.M.’ With a brand new album, Chris had some tricks up his sleeve for the night and before his next song he said, “We oughta do something new!” And new it definitely is- Chris’s brand new single, ‘Think Of You,’ which just happens to be a duet with none other than Cassadee Pope. And sure enough, Cassadee joined Chris from stage left for her part of the song to the delight of the crowd. It was the first time that they two got to perform the new single together and the crowd loved it and they delivered on the performance. With a hug, Cassadee said goodbye to Chris and the crowd for the night.
While ‘Think of You’ was great, it was time to get the energy cranked back up in the building! And what better way for Chris Young to do that then with ‘Aw Naw.’ Before doing so, he possibly made the quote of the year- “Drinks are like potato chips, you can’t have just one.” With the crowd chuckling at the joke, Chris performed his hit song and with the strong tempo and beat and the crowd stomping their boots along, it felt like the auditorium was shaking! Next up on the setlist was ‘I Can Take it From There,’ and Chris’ humor again came out when he got to the Conway Twitty verse. Pausing the show, Chris said, “How many people out there know who the hell Conway Twitty is? If you don’t know who Conway Twitty is, stop paying attention to me on stage, get your phone out and download his Greatest Hits. For all you single people that screamed earlier, if you play Conway Twitty all the way home and you can’t close the deal, I don’t know what to tell you.”
As Chris’ set was nearing its end, he would play ‘I Know A Guy,’ which is a song off his new album that two of his friends In Nashville wrote and was their first cut. He would also introduce his band members and had some fun at the expense of his band leader, Kevin, as his keyboard player played the eHarmony theme song and Chris freestyled Kevin’s fake eHarmony profile. But all in good fun. During the intros, Chris and his band would play a cover of ZZ Top’s ‘Sharped Dress Man,’ which may have become best known over the past few years as the Duck Dynasty theme song. He would continue with a few more of his greatest hits including ‘You,’ ‘Tomorrow,’ and ‘Neon’ before telling the crowd, “This is the first night of the new tour. Thank you for letting me do something that I’ve never been able to do.” Chris wrapped up his night with his recent hit single, ‘I’m Comin’ Over’ and an oldie but goodie, ‘Save Water, Drink Beer.’
When you think of places that artists want to open a tour, not many people would think Lowell, Massachusetts… especially in January. But Chris Young’s fans showed him that he made a great choice in doing so. They were loud, they were singing along, they were engaged- they were everything that an artist would want in an opening night of a tour. When you have artists like Cassadee Pope and Chris Young come out and give it their all, it’s not hard to give it right back to them.
For more photos from this show, click here.
