From June 26th-28th, the Big Apple busted out its best plaid attire for FarmBorough, the city’s first-ever country music festival. New England Country Music paid our neighbors in New York City a visit for the festival, which took place on Randall’s Island in Manhattan. FarmBorough featured 17 incredible artists on the main stage with DeeJay Silver keeping the crowd pumped up between sets leading up to the weekend’s headliners, Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, and Luke Bryan. Another 16 up-and-coming artists played on the Next from Nashville stage rounding out the impressive lineup at the inaugural festival.
The party kicked off at 3:00 pm on Friday when Canaan Smith took the main stage to perform for the city’s biggest country fans. He played songs from his EP including the lead single, ‘Love You Like That.’ Next to perform was RaeLynn, who showed some love and appreciation for the NYC crowd and had the fans singing along to her hits, ‘God Made Girls’ and ‘For a Boy.’
People were arriving by the busload and the enthusiastic crowd continued to grow as Maddie & Tae took the stage at 5:00. Their 50-minute set included ‘Girl in a Country Song,’ the hit that popularized the duo, and their latest single, ‘Fly.’ The pair kept the crowd engaged by telling the stories behind their songs, (that they write themselves) and asking the fans to dance with them, to which no one objected.
Joe Nichols followed the duo and didn’t hesitate a second before walking to the front of the catwalk to get closer to the audience. He reached out for handshakes, encouraged everyone to sing along, and worked the entire stage for the duration of his set which included ‘Hard to be Cool,’ ‘Hee Haw,’ and ‘Yeah.’ Before he left, he teased the crowd by dropping the names of the evening’s upcoming performers. Just the mention of Dierks Bentley, who wasn’t scheduled to perform for another two hours, had the audience erupting into cheers.
After Joe, there was just enough time to make it over to see Jon Pardi close the Next from Nashville stage for the day. Although the small tent was by no means near capacity, there was a large crowd full of the singer’s dedicated fans. The ‘Pardi Animals’ cheered and sang along to every song including his popular single, ‘Up All Night.’
Once things had wrapped up, everyone headed over to the main stage for Kip Moore’s performance. The country star rocked his hour-long set with his hits, ‘Beer Money’ and ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck.’ During the former, he engaged the crowd in a little left-side versus right-side singing competition. He hopped on the speaker and started the line, “I got a little…” and left the crowd to sing “beer money” as loud as possible. Kip reveled in watching the crowd sing along as he stood on the stage conducting his own orchestra.
Before we knew it, it was time for the final performance of the night, Dierks Bentley, who opened his set with the high-energy party song, ‘Sideways.’ His second number, ‘Am I the Only One’ kept the party theme alive and the fans went crazy. The crowd’s reaction to the lyrics, “Is there anybody out there who wants to have a cold beer?” made it clear that Dierks was not the only one who wanted to have fun on Friday night. One lucky fan got a memory he’ll never forget when Dierks invited the audience member on stage to shotgun a beer. Dierks heaved the man on stage as two cans of beer were being delivered. After a quick cheers, the guys chugged the brews as the crowd laughed and cheered them on as if at a college frat party. Dierks’ drinking buddy promptly returned to the PIT and allowed the singer to carry on with the remainder of the 90-minute set which included his hits, ‘I Hold On’ and ‘Tip it on Back.’ Of course, a Dierks Bentley performance wouldn’t be complete without his 2014 hit single, ‘Drunk on a Plane,’ which he performed for the raucous crowd before closing out night one of the festival.
Day two commenced with dark skies overhead as Mickey Guyton took the stage for her half-hour set where she performed her current single, ‘Better Than You Left Me,’’ – a performance that the late-arrivers should be disappointed they missed.
Following Guyton was singer-songwriter,Brandy Clark, who showcased her talents as both a vocalist and songwriter by playing ‘Better Dig Two’ and ‘Mama’s Broken Heart,’ songs she co-wrote for The Band Perry and Miranda Lambert, respectively. At this point, everyone was still in good spirits despite the damp weather. There was a considerably large crowd of colorful ponchos filling the PIT around the stage as people were claiming their territory for the evening.
Around 5:00, Charlie Worsham took the stage as the rain was beginning to fall harder. (One could describe it as “raining cats and dogs” at this point.) But it didn’t stop Worsham’s fans from having a good time; Charlie and the crowd sang and danced in the rain to ‘Could It Be,’ and ‘Want Me Too.’ Later that night, he posted a photo on Instagram and said, “I had literally zero feeling in my fingers, but I wouldn’t trade a second of standing in the rain with you today, Farmborough fans! You remind me of why I love country music so much.”
While many fans were tough enough to brave the rain, it seemed that most of the crowd opted to stay dry for as long as possible under the Next From Nashville tent. Seth Alley and David Fanning were the first to perform on that stage for the day, but we made our way over around 4:00 to watch Striking Matches perform. Sarah Zimmermann and Justin David, who together comprise the duo, have a contagious energy when they perform live and are so much fun to watch. If you’re a fan of the show, Nashville, you’ve probably heard some of their tunes; they told us they’ve had a handful of their work recorded for the show. They opened with their song, ‘Trouble is as Trouble Does’ which demands to be danced to – even if you’re just stomping along to the beat.
Following Striking Matches on the Next From Nashville stage was a high-energy performance by Dallas Smith. He mixed things up a bit by covering Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive,’ a performance that even a tent full of die-hard Country fans could appreciate.
Justin Moore was up next on the main stage performing his most popular songs like ‘Lettin’ the Night Roll,’ and ‘Point at You.’ He even spent most of his set out on the catwalk, getting just as drenched as the fans below, who hardly seemed to notice the rainfall getting heavier.
Back in the tent, Wade Bowen and Sturgill Simpson were the final two performances on the covered stage, and around 8:00 the crowd had little choice but to abandon their shelter. Despite the rain, Dwight Yoakam and Brad Paisley didn’t disappoint. The seasoned professionals weren’t going to let a little bad weather ruin the evening. Brad’s hits like, ‘Water’ and ‘Perfect Storm’ were almost too appropriate for the situation; the audience splashed around in the puddles as they danced in the PIT below. Paisley rewarded the fans that stuck it out with him by playing fan favorites like, ‘Riverbank,’ ‘Crushin’ It,’ and, of course, ‘Alcohol’ – a praise to the stuff that helped everyone survive the day’s treacherous conditions.
The sun was back for the third day of FarmBorough and everyone was in good spirits as Lindsay Ell shined, opening the festival’s final day. Though she may be small, she gave a big performance for the crowd of early arrivers. The 26 year old was killing her guitar solos and nailing her vocals throughout her 45-minute set.
Following Lindsay was The Voice’s Season 3 winner, Cassadee Pope, who spent some time with fans earlier that day at a free Meet and Greet. She opened with ‘I Wish I Could Break Your Heart,’ hitting notes that made it obvious why the girl won a singing competition. Cassadee made use of entire stage, which was now larger than the previous two days thanks to an addition by headliner, Luke Bryan. Pope strutted around in a pair of killer heels while rocking her songs, ‘Champagne,’ ‘Proved You Wrong,’ and her well-known hit, ‘Wasting All These Tears.’
Dustin Lynch was the third performer of the day, taking the stage around 6:00 for his hour-long set that included his hits, ‘She Cranks My Tractor,’ and ‘Cowboys and Angels.’ In a tight white tee, he playfully paraded across the stage throwing around beach balls with fans and flashing his perfect smile at the screaming fangirls in the PIT below. Dustin seemed to have the bass cranked all the way up, arguably shaking all of Manhattan, and he was having just as much fun as those in attendance, proving that FarmBorough is where it’s at, (Yep, Yep).
The festival’s second-to-last artist, Randy Houser, took the stage around 7:30 to play for an already rambunctious crowd, still hyped up from the day’s earlier acts. He showed the city ‘how country feels’ with a performance that commanded a good time be had by all. The fans were singing along to their favorites like ‘Goodnight Kiss’ and ‘Runnin’ Outta Moonlight’ as the sun was setting on the island.
Finally it was time for FarmBorough’s big headliner, the man with all the moves, Luke Bryan! He has built a reputation on being a partier and delivering a good time, and Sunday’s performance was no exception. He opened the set with his newest single, ‘Kick the Dust Up,’ and it was non-stop hits from there. About a half-hour into the performance, he brought Dustin Lynch and Randy Houser out to share some tequila and cover Maroon 5’s, ‘Sugar.’ Luke’s set also included the ever-popular ‘Crash My Party,’ ‘This is How We Roll,’ and ‘Drunk on You.’ The fans sang along passionately to ‘I Don’t Want This Night to End,’ which couldn’t have been more appropriate as we knew the party would soon be over. But Luke came out for his encore and let the country girls shake it one more time before the inaugural FarmBorough Festival came to a close.
For more photos from the FarmBorough Music Festival, check out our Facebook album here.