This concert review originally appeared on Degenrefy.com written by Ash Starkweather
The Fillmore was completely sold out and filled to the gills for the Kat Country Jam! The night started off with an auction with proceeds benefiting a local children’s hospital. Auction items included acoustic guitars signed by the likes of Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, and others, and they yielded several thousand dollars for the hospital! After the auction it was showtime!
The crowd screamed when Maddie & Tae [★★★★★] took the stage. They played three acoustic songs for the crowd, one, of course, being their current hit “Girl In a Country Song,” which criticizes the “Bro country” phenomenon that’s sweeping country music. They had a chance to answer a few questions that were tweeted to the radio station, and told the crowd about how they got started at the age of 17. Everyone was disappointed to see them go after such a short set, and fans continued to tweet about them the rest of the night using #katjam to ask artists questions and add to the live feed at the show.
The remaining three artists were all on stage at the same time, and played one acoustic song after another. Montgomery Gentry [★★★★] started off, and he definitely had the most energy of all of the artists that night. He dove right in with his hit “My Town.” Montgomery filled histheir set with their biggest hits, a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover, and a song from his new album coming out in the spring. Given how short hthe set was, it was still wildly entertaining, and we wished we could’ve heard more.
Dustin Lynch [★★★★★] did the most talking that night and got the most personal with the audience. He said he was still single, but was not necessarily looking either. He played “Daddy’s Boots,” a song that is sure to be a hit in the near future with promising lyrics like, “I’m gonna have a hell of a time trying to fill your Daddy’s boots.” This is going to be a hit on the wedding circuit! He also played “Where It’s At” and “Cowboys and Angels.” Dustin Lynch is sure to be a name you will be hearing a lot of in the future!
With chants of “Hunter Hayes [★★★★★]! Hunter Hayes! Hunter Hayes!,” we almost lost an ear drum thanks to the ladies standing behind us. He could hardly even speak a line without being drowned out by female fans screaming, “I LOVE YOU!” Despite that, Hunter was very humble, and stopped to acknowledge his fans before each song he played. Some of the hits he played included “Wanted” and “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me.” Much like Montgomery Gentry, it was hard to condense Hunter’s normal repertoire of songs into a smaller set, but it was great to see him play an intimate, acoustic show. Fans were just simply left wishing he had more time to play and room to perform on stage.
The Kat Country Jam was an awesome show with a stellar lineup for a great cause. We hope that we will get the opportunity to see next year’s Kat Country Jam raise more money for charity in an even bigger venue based on the success of this year’s show!