Kip Moore and Conner Smith joined Sam Hunt in Hartford on June 29, 2018 for the Country 92.5 Summer House Party.
It had been almost a year to the day since Sam Hunt last performed at Hartford’s Xfinity Theatre. On June 24th, 2017, Hunt brought Maren Morris, Chris Janson and Ryan Follese along as part of his 15 in a 30 Tour (click here to check out our coverage of that show). This year Hunt was in town for the Country 92.5 FM Summer House Party which also featured Kip Moore and Conner Smith.
Sam Hunt in Hartford CT on June 29, 2018. Photo by Shawn St. Jean.
Hunt hit the stage at 9:45p wearing a black t-shirt and pants, while the beard we saw him sporting last year was replaced with a few days of stubble. Hunt started his set with his current hit single, Downtown’s Dead, and the crowd reacted in a big way. This song marked the first new release for Hunt in over a year.
Mid-way through his set, Hunt’s crew condensed the stage set-up by bringing out some bar stools and spot lights. Hunt sat center stage with an acoustic guitar as the rest of his band sat around him, and a large video board behind them projected images to give the feel of being inside a Nashville honky tonk. Hunt reminisced to the time when he first moved to Nashville, and then covered some of his favorite classic country songs including Brooks & Dunn’s Brand New Man, Jo Dee Messina’s Heads Carolina, Tails California, and Tim McGraw’s Where The Green Grass Grows.
Sam Hunt in Hartford CT on June 29, 2018. Photo by Shawn St. Jean.
Hunt picked up the pace with a bunch of crowd favorites including House Party (which had everyone in the pit jumping), Raised On It, and Break Up In A Small Town. Always in motion, Hunt paced the length of the stage, connecting with fans in the pit throughout the night.
For his encore Hunt came back out on stage on his own and sat down at a piano that had been set up for him. Spot lights focused on him as he performed Make You Miss Me. Hunt finished his set with what was the biggest sing along of the night: the hottest country song of 2017, Body Like A Back Road.
Kip Moore in Hartford CT on June 29, 2018. Photo by Shawn St. Jean.
It had been nearly two years since Kip Moore last performed at the Xfinity Theatre, when he opened for Miranda Lambert on her 2016 Keeper of the Flame Tour (click here to see our coverage of that show). Since then, Moore released his third studio album, 2017’s SLOWHEART, and notched his fourth number one hit single, More Girls Like You.
Moore brings an incredible level of passion and energy to every performance, and you can see his audience giving it right back to him through every song.
Moore’s 45 minute set was a solid mix of songs from SLOWHEART including Just Another Girl, The Bull, More Girls Like You, and Plead The Fifth, as well as earlier hits including Wild Ones and Beer Money. And of course the crowd was all fired up to sing along to Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck, with Moore standing on blocks at the front of the stage holding his mic out towards the fans in the pit.
Moore will be back in the area with a headlining performance at the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY on Friday, August 24th (click here for more details).
Conner Smith in Hartford CT on June 29, 2018. Photo by Shawn St. Jean.
The show marked the Hartford debut for seventeen year old Conner Smith, a Nashville-based singer songwriter. While he only had 20 minutes, Smith showed tremendous stage presence and definitely gained a whole lot of new fans who were seeing him for the first time.
Check out all of our exclusive photos from the Hartford show below:
Sam Hunt
Kip Moore
Conner Smith
For all of the latest news and updates on Hunt head over to samhunt.com and his social media accounts: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
Were you at the show in Hartford or have you seen any of these artists perform live elsewhere? Let us know what you thought of the performance in the comments section below!
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