Josh Abbott Band at The Gramercy Theatre January 29th

As Josh Abbott himself tweeted, “That.Was.Legit.” Friday night brought the Texas mainstay back to NYC where he headlined the Gramercy Theatre which, sans for a few spots in the bleacher seating, was packed. College kids, displaced Texans, young and older came out to enjoy themselves for a full night of music.

With only her voice and acoustic guitar, Carly Pearce opened the show. She held the crowd’s attention with her engaging and funny personality as well as her lovely voice on a short set of songs including “Black Sheep” and “Blame The Whiskey” which was heard all 2015 on The Highway. Tucker Beathard and his band (who are going out on Dierks Bentley’s summer tour) followed, and brought a very rock heavy edge to the night.

Then, around 930pm, Abbott and his band took the stage and played until almost 1130pm. They began the night with “Live It While You Got It” from their new album, Front Row Seat, and the crowd definitely took that to heart, as did Abbott who was eager, excited and full of energy. Outgoing, chatting, pointing and interacting with what seemed like everyone in the room, Abbott made you feel a part of the night whether you were in the back or right up front.

While they played songs from the new album including “Amnesia” and “Wasn’t That Drunk,” it was the older songs that had the energy of the Gramercy crowd going through the roof…..and Abbott felt it and fed off of it. From “My Texas” to “Hangin’ Around,” “Brushy Creek,” “All of A Sudden” and “I’ll Sing About Mine” he and his stellar band [Preston Wait, Edward Villanueva, James Hertless, Caleb Keeter, Austin Davis and newcomer Dave] were consistently on point up until the very end when they left everyone tired, happy and hoping they make it back to the city sooner than later.