On January 23, 2015, Joe’s Bar in Chicago, Illinois and local radio station US99.5 hosted their Mega Thank You Bash with headliner Chris Lane. Also on the ticket were openers Davisson Brothers Band and Alex Hall. Radio Personality, Mike, from US99.5, brought us unbelievable energy as he presented each performer as well as hosted ticket giveaways between sets for upcoming sold out shows at Joe’s Bar, including Sam Hunt and Dustin Lynch.

When the lights dim, music cranks up by 100% and smokefills the room, you know it’s time for the headliner to hit the stage. Chris Lane and his band enthusiastically took the stage by opening up with their very appropriate original song, “Everybody Wants To Party”. After Chris was welcomed with cheers of approval from fans, he continued on with a cover of Tim McGraw “Something Like That”, always a crowd favorite, to keep the momentum alive.

Many elements work cohesively to contribute to a flawless show, but sometimes there are malfunctions. As sound difficulties brought the performance to a halt three songs into the set, Chris had an impressive ability to keep calm and collected in the midst of a less than ideal situation, especially in front of a full house. He instantaneously rolled with the punches and whipped out an acoustic set while the technical kinks were being worked out. During this memorable moment, he threw us back to his early days as a performer who mostly did covers of old songs, and the throwback was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Everything that made 90’s pop music a success, including Nsync, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears was brought alive in the rawest acoustic form.

After winning the crowd over during his acoustic throwback, the show was ready toresume its planned course, and they kicked us back into action with new, upbeat original songs including “Wreck This Town”, “Playing Drinking Games With My Heart” and “Guns And Roses” and Chris expressed sincere excitement over the fact that his fans were singing along to these songs that aren’t even released yet. He then let us know that we can expect a brand new, full length album sometime in the next few months. Cheers to that!

Chris Lane’s first hit song “Let’s Ride” made its debut in 2012, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a large percentage of the fans in attendance at this show havebeen been around since about that time. As he introduced this song, he and his band became even more exuberant in their performance as the crowd diligently sang along. What an incredible sight.

Throughout the course of the night, Chris never ceased to express his gratitude to hisfans, by verbal thanks as well as taking selfies with fans while on stage. His gratitude continued on even after he left the stage, as he humbly invited everyone in attendance to meet him at his merchandise table. He then asked if anyone was celebrating a birthday, brought a few birthday fans on stage to serenade them with a humorous cover of 50 Cent “Go Shorty”.

After a mash-up medley of covers including “Locked Out Of Heaven”, “Firework”, “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Wrecking Ball”, Chris Lane introduced us to his self proclaimed favorite song “Waste It” off of his new album. With a catchy beat and lyrics articulating, “I’ve got the time if you wanna take it, I’ve got the love if you wanna make it, I’ve got a heart if you wanna break it, girl I just don’t wanna waste it” it’s easy to quickly fall in love with this song as well.

The night wouldn’t be complete without his current hit radio single, “Broken Windshield View”. Though this song was written by songwriters David Lee Murphy, Rodney Clawson and Shane Minor, it hits close to home for Chris as a Kernersville, North Carolina native, as it supports the simplicity of life growing up in the country, through the cracks of a broken windshield on a lifted truck. The edgy guitar sounds and fast paced lyrics made this the perfect way to conclude an absolutely electric night.

There is an overwhelming reason that Country Music #CMchat has named Chris Lane as one of our “15 to watch in 15″. He is incredibly passionate about music and he, along with his band, convey that in the most compellingperformances you will ever enjoy. He is an absolute must see live!