Maren Morris
A little over a year ago Maren Morris played an acoustic set on the Yamaha music stage at Country To Country. At the time she thought nobody in the crowd would know any of her material – unbeknown to her she’d witness an entire arena singing every word of her debut single ‘My Church’ back to her.
Heading home to Nashville she released her first major label LP ‘Hero’, taking the country music scene by storm. She was awarded a CMA award and a GRAMMY making her a name people won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Country To Country 2017 gave Maren the opportunity to play on the main stage at the O2 arena. Second on the bill on the final night of the festival she opened her set with the catchy ‘Sugar’ getting people singing along. At various points she came across as nervous, and a little off vocally especially in her lower register. That being said she excelled when singing high notes receiving well deserved cheers from the audience. Maren hasn’t been playing to large crowds in big arenas for long so perhaps she is still finding her feet.
Singing ‘Hero’ in its entirety there was plenty of upbeat tracks to get the audience singing along. Songs such as ’80’s Mercedes’, ‘Rich’, ‘Drunk Girls Don’t Cry’, and ‘I Wish I Was’ all have fantastic sing a long choruses, but that didn’t stop Morris grabbing her guitar and slowing the pace down with the beautiful ‘I Could Use A Love Song’. There was doubt however that the real highlight was the song that firmly put Maren on the map. That song is ‘My Church’ – Maren expressed her gratitude, telling a filled arena that she “had no intention of winning the UK over” and hearing the audience sing back to hear was “the craziest thing”. Ending her show with ‘Second Wind’ there was an unexpected cover of ‘Halo’ by Beyoncé mixed in there, Morris made what is quite a challenging song her own, and if she hadn’t already won London over, it’s pretty safe to say by the end of that song, she would have done.
Maren will be returning to British shores in November. Playing a string of dates across the UK. Tickets go on general sale Friday 17th March.