For years I wanted to visit the Country Night Gstaad and this year I finally found another Country Music Fan to join me! We started our little road trip at noon so that I could join the Line Dance workshop at 4. Of course the we couldn’t start without the right music: The hottest Country songs atm 🙂
When we arrived at the venue I kinda felt transported into a convention centre in the US. Obviously country music was playing, some people were eating and some were already line dancing. Let me tell you the work shop was a lot of fun and I never thought that line dancing is so exhausting! LOL
Krüger Brothers
They are Swiss but living in the US and they managed to get the most people into the actual concert venue! I quite liked their music and their performance however I was waiting for the other artists as my highlights unlike the majority of the audience. I think since the crowd is mainly middle-aged they prefer the good ol’ country music. And the Kruger Brothers perfect their unique style.
Maddie & Tae
If you google Maddie & Tae you quickly realize that they are two gorgeous girls but believe me they are even better looking in real life. But they are just good looking they are super cute and very talented too. God must have had a good day when Maddie & Tae were born. With big smiles on their faces they started with “Ain’t There Yet”, “No Place Like You” and “Friends Don’t”. Maddie & Tae’s harmonies were just perfect and together they played the guitar as well. I was super impressed and loved their set already. The girls continued with “Tourist”, “Fly” and “Waiting on a Plane”.
My absolute fav tune was “Your Side of Town”. It’s a super fast song including some clapping and it just has so much energy! I really really loved it. It doesn’t get more country than “Shut up and Fish”. For you country rookies let me show you what I mean with the following lyrics:
Oh I was fishing he was wishing
We were kissing I was getting
Madder than a hornet in an old coke can
Getting closer sliding over
Crowding up my casting shoulder
Reaching out and tryna hold my reeling hand
Saying I’m pretty saying he’s in love
And how it don’t get any better than thisI say yeah it could
Boy if you would
Shut up and fish
Just perfect! haha “Trying on Rings” was next before we got to hear a beautiful ballade with on point harmonies again: “Everywhere I’m Going”. I could listen to Maddie & Tae all evening. They deffo made a new fan 🙂 “I Don’t need to know” and “New Dog” followed. But of course the girls couldn’t leave without singing their biggest hit “Girl in a Country Song”. Such a cool song and the video is sooo funny so have a look below:
I think they loved it so much they added another lovely ballade “One Heart” to the set list. But what I really appreciated most was that they properly took time to sign the booklets of their fans and were just super sweet!
Midland
Midland looks like a band from the 80’s with their long hair and moustaches which one of the lads shaved off the day before and he got a lot of grief for it 😀 In any case I really really loved their set. You could feel that they love what they are doing and they were super grateful to be in Switzerland and play for us. They mentioned more than once that this was a once in a life trip and they enjoyed the beautiful views including a super dangerous hiking trip. I loved Mark’s storytelling skills. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a set list of all their songs since I was already crammed in to get a good spot for Brett Young’s first song.
They played a lot of folky country songs almost leaning into blue grass and what I really liked was when they covered “Stand by Me”. Their harmonies were absolutely on point in all the songs and they tried to get the crowd going a few times! And of course at the end they played “Drinking Problem” 😀 So you just read that fishing is big in Country Music now I can tell you that drinking is almost as big and this song is just the perfect example. Have a look at the video:
Brett Young
He was the headliner but only started playing at 11.40 so I was already super exhausted however he managed to get me up dancing from the start! For the first song “Here Tonight” I was front row again and hoped to get some good close up shots. “Used to missing you” was next and then I couldn’t believe it one of my fav Brett Young songs was already up: “Like I loved you” was on and I was singing and swaying along. So my concert buddy and I decided we couldn’t watch it from the back so we joined others who were dancing on the side.
One of his biggest hits was up in 5 4 3 2 1 “You Ain’t Here to Kiss Me” 😉 Brett then started talking. He said that he grew up in California and that one of his biggest inspirations is Gavin DeGraw and I looked over to Shirley from Loads of Music completely gobsmacked. I didn’t expect this at all. I was over the moon and I loved him even more so when he started playing “Not over you” I could barely contain myself haha I absolutely looove surprises at gigs!
After that we had to catch a breath and calm down to “Making me Say”, “Crazy Love” and “Ain’t too proud”. I knew that the slow part was coming now so we sat back down and enjoyed the next few cover songs where you could hear his very beautiful voice. Brett Young started off with “Walking in Memphis”. I love the song even in a slow version. “Bartender Blues” and “Garth” was next. He then asked Maddie & Tae back on stage to sing with him “Whiskey Lullaby”. Let me tell you those harmonies were on point! And to finish the slow cover songs set he sang “Hallelujah”. Such a beautiful moment and I enjoyed the quiet part very much.
“Close Enough” and “Catch” got us up and dancing again. For “In Case you didn’t know” Brett Young said that if you are here with your partner this is the song to dance to. At first no-one stood up but then finally a couple started dancing and it was just the cutest! This guy earned some major husband points that night lol “Left Side of Leaving” I usually turn up the volume real loud so I was screaming it back at him haha thank God the music was loud enough so that no-one heard me 😉
His hour was over waaay to quick since we were already in the first song of the encore with “Mercy/Silence”. For the last song “Sleep without you” we were allowed back in front of the stage and some even got selfies with him! After a short thank you and good night Brett Young left the stage and lots of people were left without his signature in their programme booklet.
Who’s excited for the Country Night Gstaad 2019?
It was such an amazing day filled with good country music, nice people and loooots of fun! I hope I can come back next year – maybe we get to see Sam Hunt? 😉 The date is already out so mark your calendars on the 20th/21st September!
Want to share your Country Night Memories? Just comment below.
My latest gigs: Selah Sue, Max Giesinger, Walking Papers