On Monday, February 6th, Country 92.5 hosted their annual Concert for Kids at the Cadillac Ranch in Southington, CT. The sold out show benefiting St. Jude featured Joe Nichols, Love and Theft, Chase Bryant and Tucker Beathard. As with many of the shows at Cadillac Ranch in the past, this one was first-come, first-serve seating so fans knew to arrive early and had the venue packed well ahead of time. At 7:30, some of the DJs from Country 92.5 came on stage with a heartfelt thank you to everyone for not only coming out to the show, but for supporting such an incredible cause. Soon after, the artists came out and took their respective seats on stage with Tucker Beathard at the far left followed by Chase Bryant, Joe Nichols, and Love and Theft.
For this acoustic show, the artists each took turns playing a song. Tucker Beathard was first up kicking things off with his new single, ‘Momma and Jesus.’ He was followed by Chase Bryant who performed his hit, ‘Little Bit of You’ for his first go-around. After Chase, it was Love and Theft’s turn but Stephen had a short introduction before they started their first song. He addressed the “beautiful crowd” explaining how he and Eric are both parents, so St. Jude is a cause close to their hearts. After encouraging the crowd to applaud themselves for showing such great support, the duo jumped into their 2009 hit, ‘Runaway.’ Last but certainly not least was Joe Nichols in the hot seat. He briefly thanked 92.5 before playing ‘Gimme That Girl,’ during which fans waved their arms in unison while singing along to the chart-topper – things were certainly off to a great start.
The focus returned once again to Tucker Beathard to start off round two. The Nashville native played ‘Whiskey in a Wine Glass’ for all those classy ladies that also know how to throw down. “Every girl’s got a wild side!” Tucker justified- and many of the girls couldn’t disagree. Before Chase Bryant played his second song, he shared a personal story with the crowd about his brother who was diagnosed with stage four Leukemia when he was three. “Now he’s 29 years old!” Bryant shared. “These kids are our future and anything that bites this illness in the ass I’m a big supporter of, so thanks for coming out tonight!” His story was met with an outburst of applause as Chase switched gears to introduce his next song. “I’ve had a few singles on country radio and I wanted to put out one that had a little more sex appeal,” the singer explained announcing ‘Room to Breathe.’ Things were just warming up as we jumped back over to Love and Theft. “I’m love, he’s theft,” Stephen joked, adding, “We actually got our name from a Bob Dylan album.” The guys then introduced their debut single on Curb Records, ‘Candyland.’ The song, while reminiscent of the children’s board game, is anything but G-rated. So it only made sense that Joe Nichols continued with the theme of round two as he explained that he had spent too many years not doing enough sexy songs for his wife. His call to action was his 2016 single, ‘Undone.’
“Thank you Country 92.5 for having me, supporting me, and such a great cause,” Tucker said. “I was born in Nashville, TN. I got into songwriting to kind of help myself, it was my therapy and my outlet. No matter what you do in life there’s always people trying to bring you down. This song goes out to everybody that’s dealing to anything,” the singer said, moving into round three with ‘Fight Like Hell.’ Soon Chase Bryant was up again, but before playing his third song of the evening he wanted to thank the men and women fighting overseas. He was received with loud applause which only increased as he started playing Brooks & Dunn’s ‘Red Dirt Road.’ Keeping the energy level up, Love and Theft thought it was the perfect moment to congratulate New England football fans on their team’s big win the night before. Not everyone was thrilled. The duo played their upbeat hit, ‘Angel Eyes’ which had everyone singing loudly. With no time to waste, Nichols made a quick transition. He kept the party rocking by jumping right into his own, ‘Yeah,’ without any introduction.
For Beathard’s last go-around he wanted to play something everyone would know, which of course was his breakout hit, ‘Rock On.’ By this point, fans had started edging closer to the stage and filling up the space in the center aisle, where they stayed for Bryant’s final song, ‘Take It On Back.’ For Love and Theft’s last one, they wanted to play a song that was tremendously meaningful to them. Released independently, this single actually landed the guys a new record deal. “Eric is over 650 days sober!” Stephen announced introducing the pair’s ‘Whiskey on my Breath.’ After the song’s conclusion Joe Nichols warmed things back up with his 2013 hit, ‘Sunny and 75,’ which is exactly where we wanted to be on that cold February night. The evening was winding down but it wasn’t over just yet, “He’s not getting off that easy! Who wants to hear another one from Joe Nichols?” Stephen shouted. The crowd’s reaction meant that Nichols would play one more. The night concluded with the party favorite, ‘Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.’ “Everybody stand up!” Joe yelled. “Take your hand and put it on your neighbor to your left’s belly,” the singer joked. As the song carried on, fans crowded the stage prompting the venue to bring out barriers so no one would get too close. However, it didn’t stop anyone’s enthusiasm. “Sing that last verse,” Nichols instructed, adding, “I don’t want you to sing it, I want you to feel it.” Doing as ordered, the crowd passionately sang along to the final verse of the song, ending on a high note.
The guys thanked the station one last time and waved goodbye to fans as the crowd dissipated. Some headed out the door, some back to the bar, but most of the fans had pre-purchased posters and started to form a line to meet the artists get their poster signed. The line wrapped around the entire floor of the venue with such incredible support from fans. 92.5’s Concert for Kids is easily one of our favorite events to attend year-after-year. Going out and seeing a great show is always a good time, but being able to help out a wonderful cause like St. Jude makes it even better!
For more photos from this event, click here.