If you saw Megan Moroney perform at the New York State Fair Monday night, consider yourself “Lucky.”
Country singer Megan Moroney performs at the New York State Fair’s Suburban Park Stage in Geddes, N.Y., on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Geoff Herbert | [email protected])Geoff Herbert | [email protected]
The “Tennessee Orange” singer drew 47,000 fans to the Suburban Park stage, the second largest crowd in NYS Fair concert history. Fellow country artist Lainey Wilson holds the current record with a crowd of 53,200 at the same stage last year.
Moroney, fresh off opening for Kenny Chesney on his stadium tour, kicked off the show with fan favorites from last year’s debut album, “Lucky,” and “I’m Not Pretty.” The majority female audience held out their phones, recording every minute of it — except for when they were filming themselves for TikTok videos.
The Georgia native wore a short tangerine dress with sparkly orange booty shorts and white boots, frequently smiling as her golden curls made her look like a beauty queen. She completed the look with a bouquet of flowers when she performed “Miss Universe,” a lovelorn anthem about a boyfriend leaving her for a magazine-quality model.
But Moroney herself could soon be a country superstar appearing on the cover of magazines. She has an “aw shucks” charm and earnest lyrics that earned her an ACM Award for best new female artist last year and a nomination for the CMA Awards’ 2023 Song of the Year (”Tennessee Orange”).
Her voice isn’t as powerful as Wilson’s, and her vocals didn’t mesh well with the guitars on the mostly acoustic “Hope You’re Happy,” but she’s got her own brand: Moroney’s backing band wore “emo cowgirl country” shirts and stage crew members wore “Am I Okay?” hoodies. Her diary-in-a-dive-bar writing style especially resonates with women, including longtime country fans and those wearing their first pair of cowboy boots. Many in the audience held up signs showing their appreciation, requesting songs or bragging about driving five hours just to see Moroney.
“Y’all make my dream come true every day,” Moroney told the audience.
Moroney’s also clearly getting more comfortable in front of bigger crowds, occasionally pausing mid-song to lean forward and wave at audience members much like Taylor Swift in her “Eras Tour” concert.
alright so I posted a tick tock and I was like what song should I play the New York State fair and I was looking through the comments right before the show and this was the last minute decision this was not on the setlist this morning but it’s a song that we’ve never played for ash like at a show before I’ve done it at my VIP meet and greets but never to show and it’s one of my favorites off the new album and so this is an
Comparing Moroney to the biggest music star on the planet may sound crazy, but don’t forget Swift was once a young country singer with teardrops on her guitar, too. Moroney is still about two or three heartbreaks away from becoming the next Swift, or at least adding some Swifties to her fanbase with great singalong songs like “Girl in the Mirror.”
“This is the first state fair I’ve ever headlined,” Moroney said. “So this is an exciting night for me and, you know, I just want to take a second to say that I appreciate y’all so much. I mean, the posters that you all have made, I see y’all in the T-shirts, and y’all are just making me feel incredibly welcome. And I want y’all to know that the love is extremely reciprocated.”
Moroney still needs to branch out behind all the mid-tempo songs, though. By the time she got to “Hair Salon” and “Georgia Girl,” the energy level waned as even her biggest fans waited for a catchy hook that they could record for an Instagram Reel. “Man on the Moon,” halfway through her 70-minute set, and “Indifferent” were her only two tunes that danced between toe-tapping and barn-burning stomps.
Moroney’s biggest song is still “Tennessee Orange,” which she wrote about being a Georgia Bulldogs fan dating a Tennessee Volunteers supporter. She perfectly changed the lyrics at the end to “I’m wearing Syracuse Orange for him,” winning over any remaining fairgoers who were still on the fence.
She closed out the show with her most emo-country tune, “Am I Okay?” from her sophomore album released last month. Yes, Moroney, you’re more than OK, and we’re looking forward to how you grow as an artist.
Country singer Megan Moroney performs at the New York State Fair’s Suburban Park Stage in Geddes, N.Y., on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Geoff Herbert | [email protected])Geoff Herbert | [email protected]
