Three years ago, Russell Dickerson was perhaps the hottest thing in country music.<\/p>\n
His 2017 debut album, \u201cYours,\u201d had produced three No. 1 multi-platinum hits.<\/p>\n
His 2020 sophomore disc, \u201cSouthern Symphony,\u201d continued the stretch with two gold and platinum hits.<\/p>\n
A third, self-titled, album gave him another triple-platinum single.<\/p>\n
Dickerson\u2019s star seemed to cool in the three years after that, but last year, he came roaring back with his hit \u201cHappen to Me,\u201d his first No. 1 hit in five years, from his fourth album, \u201cFamous Back Home.\u201d<\/p>\n
He leaned heavily on that new disc as opening-night headliner on Musikfest\u2019s main Wind Creek Steel Stage at PNC Plaza, playing eight of its 12 songs in a 20-song, 95-minute show.<\/p>\n
He even opened with his most recent single, \u201cWorth Your Wild,\u201d and a worthy start it was: a booming radio rock hit, played with his four-man band that was hardly country, with the audience of perhaps 4,000 singing along, showered by confetti.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, you know we\u2019re getting wild tonight,\u201d Dickerson told the crowd, and he even played a good guitar solo late in the song.<\/p>\n
A big element of Dickerson\u2019s success was revealed with the second song, \u201cIt\u2019s About Time,\u201d from \u201cSouthern Symphony,\u201d a duet with duo Florida Georgia Line.<\/p>\n
The song showed that Florida Georgia\u2019s Bro-country style is alive. The style is typified by anthems, drum loops and rap-like cadences.<\/p>\n
It went beyond the songs. Dickerson, wearing a sleeveless denim shirt open over a white T-shirt, and denim jeans, also made the required alcohol reference, asking the crowd, \u201cAnybody thirsty here tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n
And two songs later, on his second-biggest hit, 2023\u2019s triple-platinum \u201cShe Likes It,\u201d Dickerson turned his cap backward and strutted and danced. He did the same on the 2018 double-platinum hit \u201cBlue Tacoma,\u201d on which the crowd loudly sang along.<\/p>\n
Even slower songs such as the 2024 lesser hit \u201cBones\u201d was very Bro-country, though the similar-styled and also-slower \u201cSippin\u2019 on Top of the World\u201d was less successful, despite the stage offering streams of smoke and video images.<\/p>\n
After the very good 2021 gold hit \u201cHome Sweet,\u201d Dickerson noted that the new Musikfest mug from which he was drinking was \u201cthe most American mug I\u2019ve ever seen. Happy 250th!\u201d The crowd responded with chants of \u201cU.S.A., U.S.A.!\u201d<\/p>\n
None of that is to make a judgment on Bro-country. The audience was deeply engaged, singing loudly along, even on the newer and lesser-known \u201cB.O.A.T.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickerson\u2019s performance was strong throughout the night. He spanned the stage, even singing the slower, sentimental (and excellent) newer song \u201c16 Me\u201d while sitting on the stage steps (with his cap backward again).<\/p>\n
He sang with emphasis and emotion on the 2020 double-platinum hit \u201cLove You Like I Used To,\u201d and the crowd loved it, singing loudly along with equal emotion. He contrasted the booming, Coldplay-like 2024 song \u201cWhat a Life\u201d with the equally good, slower and nostalgic \u201cRide the Wave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he sang, really sang, and definitely not Bro-country, alone on acoustic guitar as a sort of late-show \u201ccenterpiece\u201d on the 2022 hit \u201cGod Gave Me a Girl.\u201d He started his 2018 double-platinum hit \u201cEvery Little Thing\u201d the same way before the full band kicked in to finish.<\/p>\n
Dickerson proved he can rap, doing a snippet of Fetty Wap\u2019s multiplatinum \u201cTrap Queen\u201d before singing \u201cBoots,\u201d his recent duet with Wap, who appeared on the big screen behind him.<\/p>\n
He also showered Bethlehem with love, reacting to the crowd by saying, \u201cThis is phenomenal,\u201d noting Philadelphia\u2019s fortune by telling the crowd to sing \u201clike LeBron [James] just came to the Sixers, ya\u2019ll,\u201d and frequent references to Musikfest\u2019s big crowd.<\/p>\n
Dickerson closed his main set with the new album\u2019s \u201cLove That I Love You,\u201d again finishing with a guitar solo, then a six-minute \u201cMGNO,\u201d with snippets of Whitney Houston\u2019s \u201cI Wanna Dance with Somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
He took off his denim shirt and climbed the stage scaffolding, then welcomed a big-headed mascot of himself.<\/p>\n
For the two-song encore, Dickerson merged his early and more recent career, starting with, of course, his biggest hit, 2017\u2019 \u201cYours,\u201d which he introduced with another Bethlehem reference, saying it was for \u201canybody [who] made out behind Molly\u2019s [bar] to this song.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason it was a triple-platinum hit: It pulls at the heartstrings and kindles nostalgia. And Dickerson sang the heck out of it, ending with a long, long note.<\/p>\n
He closed with last year\u2019s chart-topper, \u201cHappen to Me,\u201d which incorporates Cyndi Lauper\u2019s song \u201cGirls Just Want to Have Fun\u201d (written by Philly\u2019s Robert Hazard) and another shower of confetti.<\/p>\n
It was a show worthy of Dickerson extending his stay at the top of country music.<\/p>\n
Opening the night\u2019s show was Bethlehem native Lilly Moss, a rising country singer in her own right, whose 20-minute set of six bluesy rock-country songs proved she bears watching.<\/p>\n
Backed by a four-man band, Moss opened strong with a cover of Ashley McBride\u2019s \u201cRattlesnake Preacher,\u201d and later sang fine covers of Miranda Lambert\u2019s \u201cFastest Girl in Town\u201d and \u201cGunpowder and Lead,\u201d and Ella Langley\u2019s \u201cYou Make Me Wanna Smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her original \u201cDeath of Me,\u201d released three weeks ago, showed Moss is unafraid to let go vocally.<\/p>\n
Moss pointed out her local connection, telling the audience after the first song, \u201cThis is my hometown, ya\u2019ll!\u201d and, later, \u201cIt\u2019s the first day of Musikfest, ya\u2019ll. I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m here!\u201d<\/p>\n
Before her closing song, her upcoming single \u201cDiggin\u2019 in My Heels,\u201d she recounted how, two years ago, she was at the festival\u2019s Marin Morris concert and opened a fortune cookie that presaged her music career.<\/p>\n
Moss performs on Musikfest\u2019s Main Street stage at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 2 and 8 p.m. Aug. 6, on the Lagerplatz stage.<\/p>\n
Also opening for Dickerson was Blake Proehl, who, backed by a drummer and guitarist, offered a more pop set. His song \u201cShe Got It\u201d fit his boy-band voice, with a catchy radio presentation.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY JOHN J. MOSERCountry singer Russell Dickerson on Musikfest headliner Wind Creek Steel Stage as the festival officially opens July 31.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY JOHN J. MOSERCountry singer Blake Poehl opens for Russell Dickerson on Musikfest Wind Creek Steel Stage.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY JOHN J. MOSERBethlehem native singer Lilly Moss opens for Russell Dickerson on Musikfest Wind Creek Steel Stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three years ago, Russell Dickerson was perhaps the hottest thing in country music. His 2017 debut album, \u201cYours,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-257560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}