Last Saturday, the weather outside of Mohegan Sun was freezing with a mess of snow and sleet. Inside at the Mohegan Sun Arena was a totally different story as Florida Georgia Line brought their Anything Goes Tour to town. This was one of the most sought after tickets in all of New England as the show sold-out within minutes in anticipation of the biggest party of the winter. Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly certainly didn’t come to party alone as they brought along special guests Frankie Ballard and Thomas Rhett. New England Country Music had the great pleasure of being there to cover the sights, sounds and atmosphere of this sure to be amazing concert.
There was a buzz at Mohegan Sun from the second you got to the Arena as there were people standing 30 deep in-line hoping for a miracle of last minute tickets. Our good friends from Country 92.5 were there as well before the show playing some great music and giving out Meet & Greet passes to some very lucky fans. The intensity of the capacity crowd only intensified as we took our seats next to the stage awaiting the first chords of the evening.
At just about 7:30, the lights went off and Frankie Ballard hit the stage to kick this show into gear. He started off his set with ‘Drinky Drink’, which was a great choice as was high energy to get the crowd going from the start. Frankie took a pause after the song to explain his lack of an instrument, “I normally play guitar but hurt my shoulder doing a stage dive in Houston.” This pause didn’t last long as he broke out his newest single, ‘Young and Crazy.’ The crowd was loving the performance as this song is already becoming the next hit in Frankie’s arsenal. Ballard, “How are we doing so far? It’s my job to get the blood moving out here. Now I’ve played the Wolf Den before and I’ve always like it here as there are always pretty girls.” Next he had the audience hit the loudest point of the night so far as who doesn’t love singing and some ‘Sunshine & Whiskey.’ Things slowed down for a few and Frankie took a second to take a drink from a fan in the crowd. He gave a brief intro to the next song which you could tell is very personal to him, “This here was my first single and is as true to me as anybody. Raise your hand if you’re living a helluva life here.” With that the crowd roared and sang right along with ‘Helluva Life.’ Unfortunately the end of Ballard’s set was already approaching but he broke out some “Motor City rock and roll” to finish it off. He treated the crowd to a rousing cover of Bob Seger’s ‘Old Time Rock And Roll’ which had everyone clapping along to this great version. Frankie certainly got this concert going in the right direction with a fantastic set and we wish he was able to play longer.
The energy in the Mohegan Sun Arena didn’t have time to lose any steam as it wasn’t long before the next special guest took the stage. Thomas Rhett is easily one of the best new country singers in a huge crop of them which have sprouted as of late. Shortly after 8:00, his band took the stage and Thomas appeared from two doors in the middle of his stage set. This was a significant way to enter as he blew the doors to his performance off with ‘South Side.’ His energy and love of performing quickly permeated through the crowd and had everyone up off their seats. Rhett’s high octane style on stage is matched chord for chord by his amazing band and this wasn’t more evident than when they broke out, ‘Something To Do With My Hands.’
The crowd was blowing the roof off the venue when Thomas played a song he co-wrote for another great country artist as he performed Lee Brice’s ‘Parking Lot Party.’ After the song he stopped to address an almost mishap, “That last little part I almost kissed my bass player but I’m married to a girl.” The audience found this highly amusing and Rhett took a moment to setup his next single, “This is one of my favorite places to play in this country as I’ve played here before with both Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert. Today this song went #1 on the charts and thanks for making this my third #1 single.” Of course he was talking about ‘Make Me Wanna’ and the crowd showed their appreciation by singing along. The highlight of the his performance for me is the same as it always is, ‘Beer With Jesus.’ In my opinion this is one of the best songs I’ve heard and hearing it live makes it even better. Thomas took to the top of the stage, explained his fear of heights (almost on a fear level with spiders) and played an incredible version as the Mohegan Sun Arena lit up with cell phone lights. He then played some more great songs from his rapidly growing hit list, ‘It Goes Like This’ and ‘Get Me Some of That.’ Rhett briefly left the stage before his final song and returned wearing some sunglasses and a white hat. This was appropriate as he ended his night with a cover of Bruno Mars ‘Uptown Funk,’ complete with Thomas showing off some unexpected dance moves.
Already the audience had been treated to a stellar night of music and the main event had yet to even hit the stage yet. While waiting for the boys from Florida Georgia Line to take over, the crowd was treated to of all things… a magician doing card tricks to some songs. Just short of 9:30, the lights went off and a two-sided video screen flashed photos of the duo with Johnny Cash and Drake providing the soundtrack. The white curtain hanging above the stage them dropped as both Tyler and B.K. were launched into the air from different sides of the stage. They literally hit the ground running with ‘Every Night,’ which is the last track from their huge second album’ ‘Anything Goes.’ The duo had this capacity crowd in the palm of their hands from this point on. ‘Smile’ was next up and during this performance there was no denying the amazing chemistry the boys from FGL have. You can tell how close they are just by watching for a few minutes and this isn’t as much a job for them as it is the culmination of a lifelong dream.
“What’s up Connecticut? We came along way for this one,” Tyler Hubbard exclaimed to the audience before the duo performed ‘Round Here.’ There was not a person in the audience sitting down and this fact wasn’t lost on the guys on stage, “Frankie and Thomas said we got a crazy ass crowd tonight. Are we partying yet or what? Thank you for weathering the cold to come see us.” Tyler and B.K. certainly were just warming up and this was only partially due to doing a cheers to the crowd with a bottle of Fireball whisky. ‘Good Good’ had everyone in attendance singing along to the chorus, loud and proud. The good times kept on rolling as FGL approached the front of the stage, cups in hand and asked the crowd to take out their phones and light up the arena. This led into a performance of the title track off their second album, ‘Anything Goes’ and the duo’s second number one hit, ‘Get Your Shine On.’ Brian Kelly addressed the crowd, “You guys look beautiful tonight. A bunch of people working their ass of to spend your hard earned money to come hang with your boys. This means the world to us.” With the success the newest album has garnered, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see at least six singles released to radio. The latest single from the country duo is ‘Sippin On Fire’ and is already a favorite at the live shows, “We had to pick our next single and we love all of them on our new album. We gotta be honest, we wish that our current single could be your single forever… our National Anthem,” Hubbard said.
Florida Georgia Line is able to seamlessly transition from partying on stage with their high energy singing and dancing to slowing things down and evoking different emotions from their live crowds. This was on full display as both Tyler and B.K. sat on stools at opposite ends of the stage to perform the next few songs. Seeing as how this is the guys first shot at headlining a tour, they let us in on some of the process, “There’s a lot of responsibility and planning being headliners. This is a big production and we got creative our first year out. Our biggest goal in 2015 is for you guys to get to know us better and vice versa.” With guitars in hand, ‘Dayum Baby’ was the first song of a few stripped down performances. FGL had been criticized for breaking from traditional country roots but their response to this was one of their most emotional songs to date, ‘Dirt.’ “People always ask us what our favorite song is to sing or that we’ve recorded. This song is so special to us, Connecticut are you ready to go to church?” B.K. shook off the goosebumps as he introduced the song. The was easily one of the highlights of the night and the guys took a moment to thank the men and women of our military with one more chorus of the song for the troops. Before kicking the concert back into high gear, FGL played a great version of their huge hit ‘Stay.’
From this point on, the gloves were off and the bands drummer signified this by hitting the huge gong hanging behind his drumset. The crowd’s energy hit a fever pitch as ‘This Is How We Roll’ had the crowd rocking along and giving back every bit of energy FGL was sending out. We were then treated to a drum solo complete with flashing strobe lights as the band’s drummer was absolutely killing it. As this was going on, each member of the band returned to the stage with a noticeable outfit change… board shorts! It was not hard to see where this was going as the fans blew the roof off the Mohegan Sun Arena from the first chord of ‘Sun Daze.’ This brought the party and energy to a whole new level as the guys ran, danced and sang all over the stage. Frankie Ballard and Thomas Rhett joined FGL on-stage to do a great version of ‘Party People.’ All four singers were having so much fun together and interacting with the crowd. “You’re probably going to wake up tomorrow and hear the ringing we hear every morning. That means you went to a badass show the night before!’ Tyler informed the crowd before breaking out a cover of ‘All About That Bass.’ This led into a random group of cover songs from ‘Forgot About Dre’ to ‘We Dem Boyz’ to ‘Treasure.’ The latter being setup, “We have a couple of amazing girls in our lives that keep us straight. We can’t do a show without a song for them.” The last cover of the evening was of course, ‘Friends In Low Places.’ But this crowd wasn’t going home without hearing the song that brought Florida Georgia Line to the forefront of country music stardom. The boys from FGL were more than happy to oblige as they broke out ‘Cruise,’ which had the audience on fire and singing along with every single word.
It’s amazing to see how far FGL has come along in such a short period of time. From having the pleasure of seeing them as an opening act numerous times to now headlining their own tour. The love both these guys have for music, fun and their fans is so infectious that you can’t help but forget all of your problems for the time you’re at their shows. They give their heart and souls into everything they do and this show serves as a testament to their coming out party as the top duo in country music. Make sure that you catch Tyler and B.K. when they come to your town as it’s a show not to be missed.
With that being said, the guys return here to New England on May 7th to the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI, the Xfinity Theater in Hartford, CT on September 11th and the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA on September 12th.
This review was done by NECM contributing writer Mike Sullivan. You can follow me on Twitter here.