Megan Moroney Marks Milestones At Brooklyn Bowl Nashville

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Megan Moroney performs during her sold-out show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville. Photo: Cece Dawson

Megan Moroney shimmered and shined during her sold-out show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville on Thursday night (Dec. 7). “The Lucky Tour” stop also marked milestone moments for the up-and-coming star. Splashes of pink light and disco ball reflections swirled as the unforgettable night unfolded.

Megan Moroney performs during her sold-out show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville. Photo: Cece Dawson

Logan Crosby was the first opener to take the stage. Brooklyn Bowl began buzzing as the first few notes of “Run Away With You” enrobed the room. He made sure the crowd was feeling alright before moving into “Everybody’s Drunk” and a rendition of Bruno Mars‘ “When I Was Your Man,” which had the entire venue singing their hearts out alongside him. Blue and green lights circled as Crosby grabbed his guitar for the title track of his latest project, “23 Days In L.A.” The artist then asked if anybody in the audience was married, and was met with quite a few cheers, as he sang his sweet ballad “If You Ask Me,” which tells the story of a man asking the father of the woman he loves for his blessing.

“I think I just got engaged to three different people in the crowd,” he joked before introducing yet-to-be-released tune “Girl Next Door.” Crosby followed with his new single “Land” as well as a cover of Chris Stapleton‘s “You Should Probably Leave,” and kept everyone swaying as he wrapped with “Hold On To Me.”

Mackenzie Carpenter was up next. Sporting a cropped, powder blue button down with cream fringe and a studded mini skirt of the same color, she shared a little about herself and started her set with the catchy, unreleased number “Walks Like A Cheater.” Carpenter then serenaded the crowd with her debut single “Can’t Nobody.” After introducing her brother and frequent collaborator Micah, who was on guitar, and her drummer Marcus, she performed a country mash-up of various hits in addition to what she deemed her “murder your husband song,” which centered around a woman whose husband mysteriously disappears on a fishing trip.

“What do y’all think about hearing Micah sing something?” Carpenter asked. The audience responded with excited screams as he borrowed the mic for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s “Fishin’ in the Dark.” The artist stepped back up for “Jesus, I’m Jealous,” a song about finding hope when you’re hopeless, and “Country Girls (Just Wanna Have Fun),” her version of the Cyndi Lauper classic. She finished with clever tracks “Don’t Mess With Exes” and “Huntin’ Season,” both of which are featured on her self-titled debut project.

Pictured (L-R): Sony Music Nashville’s Taylor Lindsey, Columbia Records’ Julian Swirsky, Megan Moroney and RIAA’s Jackie Jones. Photo: Cece Dawson

Red lights radiated as Moroney’s band members, each of them wearing a black cut-off t-shirt, strutted on stage in an orderly line and took their places with their instruments. The more they played, the more the anticipation began to build. A neon green shamrock sign lit up behind them in the center of the stage curtain, along with a royal blue cowboy boot and a pair of hot pink dice. Suddenly, the room went dark. As the sound of heels clicking against hardwood echoed, the woman of the hour made her way to the front. Once she hit centerstage, 10 spotlights beamed down on her, making it feel as though we had all been transported to a large-capacity stadium.

“Nashville, Tennessee, how are we doing y’all?” Moroney asked, her green, sequined fit-and-flare dress sparkling under the glowing hues as they transitioned back to warmer colors. The mass of fans surrounding her cheered loudly, indicating that everyone was doing great. Her white cowboy boots walked to each side of the stage and back as she sang “Another on the Way,” a track from her debut album and the tour’s namesake, Lucky. Moroney donned a pink guitar and requested that the audience join her in singing as she moved into another Lucky track, her single “I’m Not Pretty,” which the artist wrote with both Mackenzie and Micah Carpenter as well as Ben Williams. The rays of light turned blue when she performed her first-ever release, “Wonder.” Moroney noted that she wrote the tune with her best friend Natalie, who was present.

“This next song I feel like put me on the map, and it was the first song I heard on [SiriusXM] The Highway. I wrote it about my hometown hair salon,” Moroney said as she started to strum the first chords of “Hair Salon.” The song, which so perfectly captures the feeling of receiving gut-wrenching news in an unexpected place, could be heard from every fan-filled corner.

The headliner then took a moment to express her gratitude. She stated that “it would be a miracle if [she] made it through the show without crying,” and shared how she played Brooklyn Bowl a year ago when opening for Warren Zeiders. “A year later, all of you are here and it just means the world to me, so thank you so much.” Moroney continued with sentimentality, noting that this show would kick off the last weekend of “The Lucky Tour” and that she would be performing the whole Lucky project throughout the evening.

“Kansas Anymore” poured into her glittering mic, followed by “Sleep on My Side.” The mic came off the stand as Moroney sang “Sad Songs For Sad People.” Once the track concluded, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)’s Jackie Jones, Columbia Records’ Julian Swirsky and Sony Music Nashville’s Taylor Lindsey stepped on stage to surprise the singer-songwriter with a double-Platinum plaque for her No. 1 “Tennessee Orange,” the highest solo certification in the country genre. Adding to the milestone, they shared the news that Moroney had been named a member of RIAA’s Class of 2023 for receiving her first certified song this year, allowing her to share the special career turning points with her devoted fans. Moroney is one of only two artists in the program across all-genres to receive double-Platinum certification.

Pictured (L-R): PunchBowl Entertainment’s Juli Griffith, Sony Music Nashville’s Ken Robold, Columbia Records’ Julian Swirsky, Sony Music Nashville’s Randy Goodman, Megan Moroney, RIAA’s Jackie Jones, Sony Music Nashville’s Taylor Lindsey, Jen Way, Steve Hodges and PunchBowl Entertainment’s Hayley Corbett. Photo: Cece Dawson

“I just want to take the time to really say thank you,” she stated. “Y’all have completely changed my life [this past] year, and I will never take [this] for granted. Thank you for showing up tonight, thank you for making homemade merch and for buying merch, and showing early. I hope you guys are having as much fun as I am, because it’s just really amazing to be here.

I also know it’s more more than just buying a ticket. You guys are probably buying drinks and [maybe] went to dinner before or bought a new outfit, so I really appreciate y’all making tonight about me and the [band]. It means so much to me.”

Moroney proceeded by playing “God Plays a Gibson” solo on a green Gibson as well as soon-to-be-released song “No Caller ID” and “Why Johnny.” She put the guitar down and her band returned for “Mustang or Me,” before Carpenter joined her for their Lucky (Deluxe) track, “Nothin’ Crazy.” The two grooved around the stage, engaging with the waving hands below. The pink guitar reappeared for “Georgia Girl,” but vanished again as “Traitor Joe” blared through Brooklyn Bowl. Moroney had everyone give it up for her bandmates as she entered into Taylor Swift‘s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which had the sold-out crowd going crazy.

“This next song that I’m going play I think has the most important message of all the songs on the record. I wrote this song as a reminder to myself to never love the boy more than I love me, and it was a really healing experience to write this,” Moroney shared. “When I put it out, I saw the way that it helped some of y’all, and it just means a lot to me and makes me want to keep writing songs like this.”

On sparkly, silver guitar, she began to play “Girl in the Mirror.” Moroney brought it full-circle with her double-Platinum, breakthrough hit “Tennessee Orange,” everybody tinged with white light as they belted the lyrics alongside her. She then concluded with title track “Lucky,” which had the entire room dancing with her.

Moroney fittingly wrapped the tour in her home state of Georgia this past weekend, and was just named as one of the five New Faces of Country Music for Country Radio Seminar (CRS) 2024.

Liza Anderson
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