We can’t believe 2016 is almost over! It was a year full of fangirling and lots of amazing concerts. While it’s always hard to pick favorites, here are some of our favorite shows of 2016!
Mixtape Festival – Hersheypark Stadium – Hershey, PA – August 2016
This festival had everything – boybands, matching camo parachute cargo pants, oversized bib overalls, harmonies that you can’t find anywhere else, and of course the best fans ever! NKOTB just get better and better with age. 98 Degrees wore camo cargo pants and sang a TRL medley. O-Town crushed their set (yes, they played “Liquid Dreams”) and wore overalls and tie-dye. Paul Abdul nailed every single dance move in her first show on 25 years (and told everyone about the Total Package Tour way before it was announced). Boyz II Men brought down the house with their beautiful harmonies.
Dan + Shay – Playstation Theater – New York, NY – December 2016
Dan + Shay are one of our favorite artists to see live, because they bring so much joy and energy to the stage. The “Obsessed” Tour was their second headlining tour, in support of their new album, and they owned the stage like they had been doing this forever. Dan + Shay are having so much fun on stage, you can’t help but join in. The whole show is one big singalong from start to finish.
Mariah Carey – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY – December 2016
We didn’t realize we were such big Mariah fans, until we saw her perform at the Beacon (and at Divas Live!) and fangirl cried a little. This is our new Holiday tradition.
Cam – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY – October 2016
We were so excited to see Cam back in NYC on her first headlining tour! She had the coolest set of the year, and told the best stories in between songs. Cam is such a genuine talent that we knew the world couldn’t ignore since the first time we saw her opening for Dan+Shay. Her voice is amazing, her songwriting is super fun (listen to her song “Fireball”) and heartwarming.
Dierks Bentley – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY – May 2016
We had just caught the opening night of Dierks’ big “Somewhere On A Beach” Tour at PNC Bank Arts Center a couple of weeks prior. It was amazing to see Dierks again in such an intimate venue. His “Last Call Ball,” in celebration of the release of his new album, “Black,” was a writers round with his collaborators. Each took a turn telling the story behind the song and performing songs from the album and other hits they had written. Did we mention we got to be approx 5 feet away from Dierks for this show?
Rooney – Webster Hall – New York, NY – October 2016
We are SO EXCITED that Rooney is back and on tour. Their new album, “Washed Away,” was one of our favorites of the year, and we got to see them live 2 times in 2016! The show in October at Webster Hall was our favorite, mostly because Robert asked everyone to come in Halloween costumes and the band dressed as vampires. Good music + Halloween = happy fangirls.
Jake Miller – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY – October 2016
Jake definitely had a good thing going at Highline Ballroom. His “Overnight” EP release show was one big party from start to finish. Jake blessed NYC with an early bit of news about his “Overnight Tour” at this show and we’re so glad he’s coming back in 2017 because we need more Jake in our lives!! His voice keeps getting better and better and let’s face it – he’s so good with his fans that there’s no way we can’t love him just as much back!
MAX – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY – February 2016
Speaking of Jake Miller, we caught his upcoming “Overnight” Tour mate, MAX, at the Beacon Theatre opening for R5. He is insanely talented, and we were blown away by his live performance. We’ve had his album on repeat ever since. If you’re going to see Jake this Winter, make sure you get there early to catch MAX’s set!
Kacey Musgraves – Town Hall – New York, NY – December 2016
We were stoked that Kacey’s Christmas tour had a stop in NYC! It was just as sparkly and fun as you would imagine. Can we make this a Holiday tradition, too?
Good Charlotte – Webster Hall – New York, NY – April 2016
*FANGIRL SCREAMING* Okay, now that we’ve had some time (alright like 8 months) to process this show, we still can’t believe just how incredibly grateful the guys of Good Charlotte are for their fans to come back after a long hiatus and still care about the little boys from Waldorf and their dumb punk music. We grew up listening to GC, their lyrics are melodies are ingrained and practically tattooed on our brains. When a band truly takes the time to acknowledge how awesome their fans are and to be so good to their fans, heck yeah we’ll keep coming back for more. This show was wild from start to finish with the crowd singing literally every single word to every single song – even deep cuts and new tracks.
Moose Blood – Studio at Webster Hall – New York, NY – July 2016
These guys really know how to put on a show! Just before their sophomore album, “Blush” came out, Moose Blood put on a wild and crazy club show in NYC’s Studio at Webster Hall. The show was completely sold out and we can bet that people from the other rooms of Webster Hall were coming downstairs to see what all the ruckus was about. What they found were four boys from Kent and about 300 fans screaming the words, all of us having the best night of our lives! This show also took us about 6 months to process how amazing these guys are.
Dolly Parton – Forest Hills Stadium – New York, NY – June 2016
This was the first concert we went to at the newly renovated Forest Hills Stadium. As huge tennis and music fangirls, just being there was exciting! And Dolly was incredible. She has such a gift for storytelling and performing, and the crowd was having a blast.
Hunter Hayes – Pennysaver Ampitheater – Selden, NY – August 2016
We sadly only got to see Hunter once this year, but he blew us away as always. He played some amazing new songs, which he released later in the year. Fingers crossed we’ll be seeing more of Hunter in 2017!
Weezer – Nikon Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY – June 2017
Weezer has been on our concert bucket list for ages, and we finally got the chance to see them over the Summer! And they did not disappoint.
Housing Works Writers Round – New York, NY – August 2017
This was one of the coolest shows we went to this year. Housing Works hosted a benefit concert, a Nashville songwriters round. Walker Hayes, Drake White, Sean McAnally, Matt Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, and Brad Tursi each took turns playing stripped down versions of the many hits they had written.
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