Singer-songwriter played a 75-minute set
Rising country star Megan Moroney played a sold out show at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace on Saturday (Oct 14th) as part of her headlining fall Lucky Tour. The Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records artist joins the ranks of Owens, Carly Pearce, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, and others as having played the iconic venue since it opened in 1996. The concert was the Georgia native’s third in the state of California during her short career.
Moroney took the stage around 9 pm, performing 18 songs, mostly from her debut album, Lucky, and its newly released deluxe companion. “I’m Not Pretty,” “Girl in the Mirror,” “God Plays a Gibson” and others were focal points of the 75-minute set. She performed the unreleased “No Caller ID,” a song that she premiered the night before in Los Angeles and has yet to record.
“If you don’t know anything about me, I write songs and have a horrible taste in men,” she quips from the stage.
Decked in a green dress, she opened the show with “Another on the Way,” before grabbing her signature pink guitar. Midset, she switched to her “Lucky” green Gibson for a three-song acoustic section that featured “God Plays a Gibson,” “No Caller ID,” and “Why Johnny.”
Surprisingly, the audience was full of younger people, mostly fans in their late teens and early twenties. It’s great to see a younger audience embrace country music, especially country that’s not of the pop variety. Megan’s music is authentic and organic and she’s the ultimate singer/songwriter who clearly is influenced by Ms. Swift. After all, she covers “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” live, leading the audience on a massive singalong.
As expected, Megan’s biggest single, “Tennessee Orange,” came towards the show’s end to much applause. The platinum-certified single marked her first No. 1 country radio smash which recently earned a nomination for Song of the Year and her New Artist of the Year at next month’s 57th Annual CMA Awards. It was the perfect way to close the set before returning to the stage for the uptempo “Lucky.”
Lucky, the album, was released in May with the deluxe edition following in September featuring three bonus songs. The audience knew all of the lyrics to each song and sang along as if the album had been available for years. That says something about her rising star status. These fans were diehards and loved every minute, especially when she’d take cell phone videos and BeReal photos using their devices.
No matter where an artist is in their career, if they play the Crystal Palace, they seem to either already be a superstar, or become one within a short time of gracing the famed stage. Megan is no exception. In a very short time, her voice, wit, humor, and songs instantly connected with country audiences, shooting her off into the country music stratosphere. This has led her to sell out shows nationally with a bright future that doesn’t involve “doing y’all’s taxes” as joked she’d be doing if she weren’t a recording artist.
