Saturday, October 10th brought Rascal Flatts and their fall leg of the wildly successful Riot tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena, this time bringing rising star Mo Pitney along for the crazy ride. Rascal Flatts is a household name in the country music world, with over a dozen No. 1 hits, and one of the highest selling artists of the 2000’s. New England Country Music headed to the 2013 ACM award winning Mohegan Sun Arena for the big night.
The casino concourse was buzzing with excitement early, with hundreds of fans lining up prior to the 6:30 entry time. As the flood gates opened, the eager concert goers wasted no time getting inside. As 7:30 grew closer the arena was packed full, nobody wanted to miss the opening act, Mo Pitney, bobbing their heads to the PA music track of Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, Junior Brown, and more classic music setting the mood for the ‘I Met Merle Haggard Today’ hit maker.
When the clock struck 7:30, the lights went low and the crowd cheered on, as Mo and his band came onstage, greeting the venue with “what’s going on Mohegan Sun?!” and kicked off the night with the song ‘Vacation.’ As the set grew on and Mo played his latest single, ‘Boy and a Girl Thing,’ Pitney asked, “are there any Merle Haggard fans out there? I can remember the exact time and date we met, he was such a cool cat. If there’s anybody in here that doesn’t like the Hag, then we’ll have to talk after the show,” leading us into ‘I Met Merle Haggard Today.’ “I played the Opry for the first time earlier this year and it took me forever to pick a song to play. Some people told me to go with a fast song, but I chose a slow one, my favorite song on the album,” and he continued the set with ‘Cleanup On Aisle 5.’ The former bluegrasser couldn’t help but play some uptempo bluegrass music and as his time winded down, Mo spoke for one last time. “I can’t thank you enough. We couldn’t do what we love without you in those seats. Thank you to the Mohegan Sun for having us back. I’ve got one more for you,” concluding his night with his first single, top 40 hit ‘Country.’ Pitney and his band left the stage to a standing ovation and the excitement of what else the night would bring.
The intermission was winding down and the fans were anxiously awaiting any signs of the chart topping trio. After what seemed like an eternity, the lights went down, the crowd went up, and the stars of the night walked across the stage. The band began the night churning out hits like ‘Stand’ and ‘Me and My Gang,’ as the entire stage length HD video screen magnificently displayed fireworks and flames. Then bass and keys player Jay sat down at his piano. “Mohegan Sun! It’s good to finally be back!” he said, as the crowd roared on. He began a beautiful piano solo, leading into a cover of Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church.’ “Anybody remember this one?!” shouted Gary, as they began a crowd favorite, ‘What Hurts The Most.’
The entire arena, even the upper deck, was on their feet as the night moved along with hit after hit, as Gary addressed the crowd again. “How’re you Connecticut? We love you so much. We are Rascal Flatts, get ready for a riot!” The band played the hit from their latest album, the energy never dying from the first note of the night on. More piano solo’s and hits down the line, and Gary again took the mic to address the crowd. “We love Mohegan Sun. We’ve kicked off a few different tours here. We were talking about this earlier, there are some songs that you put out and have no clue how many lives it’ll touch; this is one of those songs.” The band then performed ‘I’m Moving On.’
The latter half of the night wore on, with crowd favorites ‘Summer Nights,’ ‘Rewind,’ and new single ‘I Like The Sound of That,’ to which Gary had the crowd recite the last chorus back. A piano solo filled the hall and a chandelier of industrial light bulbs hung down as the only lighting in the room, as the band began ‘My Wish,’ really moving the audience. The original party-country band couldn’t let the night be overcome with slow songs, as Gary shouted, “will everybody in this facility please scream ‘Yee Haw!’” and Joe grabbed a banjo, indicating it was time for the smash hit named by the infamous five string.
The most touching moment of the night came next, as Gary grabbed a woman and her husband celebrating her 30th birthday, and brought them to center stage as the rest of the band stepped back to give them an incredible moment to ‘Bless The Broken Road.’ “That song had been lying around Nashville for 13 years and been cut twice before. It’s funny how there’s a special plan for everything and everybody. We’re incredibly grateful to be the band to bring it in the light.” A famous drum kick later and the band was full swing into the last song of the night, a Chris Ledoux classic, ‘Life Is A Highway.’ The band took their final bows, looking and sounding no different than they did 15 years ago when they came on the scene. The massive crowd filed out of the arena, humming their favorite tunes and cheering throughout the casino hallways. Just by looking around, Rascal Flatts didn’t leave a single person disappointed.