COUNTRY TO COUNTRY REVIEW FRIDAY 14TH MARCH, O2 ARENA, LONDON, UK
- Orla Maya
- Mar 13
- 4 min read
After songwriters started the festival off with a bang, Friday morning was buzzing as everyone went off to explore the music on offer over the weekend. Me and my besite headed straight over to the o2 and started our day off by catching up with friends. Most of my friday was spent in the Indigo where we discovered some great artists. One that really stood out in particular was Maggie Antone, a young singer from Virginia, USA. She sang many of her songs and one of her most famous ones I really enjoyed listening to was 'Johnny Moonshine.' As well as her ability to perform well Maggie also had a good sense of humour and was able to recieve the crowd well.
On Friday morning my mum, friends and I also went to get merchandise as that is a critical part of the weekend lol! For me, the weekend at c2c is of course massively about the music but also about chatting to friends and having fun with them. It was really nice to bump into friends whilst walking around and catch up with them as we don't see much of eachother throughout the year apart from at gigs really. One of my favourite things at the festival this year was the big hat that you could take photos under, and my bestie and I did have a little photoshoot under it as did everyone else! I also loved that the big poster was back this year, that was really fun to have a picture by too!
Of course Friday for me was all about seeing Lainey, and I was counting down the hours all afternoon until I got to sing my heart out to some of my favourite songs live. Friday was my favourite arena day as I thought the line-up was really good and it consisted of: Wyatt Flores, Tucker Wetmore, 49 Winchester, Dylan Gossett and LAINEY WILSON! The act that most surprised me was Dylan Gossett. Truthfully before the festival I had never listened to him, but I thought though slow and probably not the best act to get the crowd warmed up for the headliner, musically he is very talented and his songs have so much meaning on reflection. It was a great opportunity to get to listen to him live and now I am a big fan! Two of my favourtie songs of his are 'To Be Free' and 'Coal' and I hope Dylan comes back to the UK soon as it would be great to see him away from the festival atmosphere and at his own gig.
I really enjoyed Wyatt's set. I could tell on the Thursday at songwriters he was nervous but by Friday night he had really warmed up and this was evident through his incredible performance. Some of my favourite tracks perfomed on the night were 'Losing Sleep', 'Please Don't Go' and 'Orange Bottles.' I would really like to see Wyatt perform again in the UK soon and hopefully come back to the festival in the future as he was great and everyone loved him, he is such a sweetheart! Tucker Wetmore was great to see and definitley got the party going through his energetic stage presence! The only criticism I have about Tucker's set is that it seemed very similar to one of Morgan Wallen's and to me seemed to lack a bit of originality. However though he was amazing still and I loved singing along to 'Wine into Whiskey' and the chart - topping hit 'Wind up Missin You.' I loved the way he interacted with the fans and it was evident he was really exited about being in the UK.
For me, one of my favourite sets of the night was 49 WINCHESTER! 49 never fail to make me happy when I see them live. Isaac is so cool, and I really like the way he has a chilled stage presence and hits every note perfectly! I love how happy 49 get to be in the UK too, and the way they speak to the fans is so wholesome. My absolute favourite song of theirs performed on the night was 'Russel County Line.' A masterpiece of Americana, hearing it live again was awesome! Isaac also sounded just like he does when I listen to the song on spotify, and 49 Winchester are just so musically intuitive and this is one of the things I love about the band. However Friday was all about Lainey and getting to see her enter the stage singing 'Hang Tight Honey' from her latest 2024 studiio album 'Whirlwind' was awesome! Lainey has it all, from energy, to vocals, to audience interaction. Her band were also fantastic too, and I really enjoyed the visuals on the big screen throguhout her set. Some of my favourite Lainey songs performed on the night were 'Middle of It', 'Whirlwind', 'Heart Like A Truck', and of course, 'Wildflowers and Wildhorses.' However my only criticism of her set would be I felt that there were not enough of her earlier songs on the set list which are some of the best. Regardless, the night was still great and she even crowned the cowgirl of the night which was super cute too and shows how much she enjoys her shows and meetings her fans.
Overall 10/10 day for me on Friday!
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