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See how the American Express Concert Series has brought big music stars to the PGA Tour event in La Quinta for years.
How lucky are we?
On a night when much of the country was making frantic preparations for an impending winterpocalypse, thousands of us in the Coachella Valley instead got to wrap up a dreamy January day at the links with a visit with some of Nashville’s most dependable hitmakers.
From the group’s most recent trip to Stagecoach in 2023 to a stop at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino just last year, the members of country band Old Dominion have been desert regulars in recent years.
It’s a pairing that makes almost too much sense given Old Dominion’s proclivity for making ever-pleasant, easy-to-listen-to songs that seem perfectly matched to the carefree desert ethos (especially the ones about such not-so-weighty subjects as getting sloshed on a boat or appreciating how your hottie looks in their favorite hat).
Really, it’s hard to imagine a better way to close out round two of the American Express on Friday, Jan. 23, than with a run of light and fun tunes like “No Hard Feelings,” “Make It Sweet” and “Making Good Time.” The songs that dominated much of the first half of the show seemed perfectly matched to the laidback vibe that defines this tournament, which feels a bit like attending the golf version of spring training.
Things took a weightier turn, however, when lead singer Matthew Ramsey called on the crowd to “do some hard work tonight at the same time as we’re having a good time” by lifting up those in the crowd struggling with pain or stress by singing along to the next tune, the emotionally-resonant “No Such Thing as a Broken Heart.”
The crowd obliged in full and Ramsey — whose call to the crowd had added poignancy given his openness in the media about his own struggles with depression — delivered one of the show’s most stirring moments as he paused and made heartfelt gestures to the cheering fans from the catwalk before singing the song’s last few lines.
That was one of several moments in which Old Dominion showed that even as they are happy to deliver plenty of good vibes and smiles (seriously, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a group of musicians grin this much), the band is more than its radio pop reputation might suggest.
I was particularly impressed with guitarist Brad Tursi, who temporarily took the spotlight from the charismatic Ramsey to play the kind of rousing, minutes-long show of guitar virtuosity you would expect to hear at a Van Halen show before the band launched into “Can’t Get You,” a lesser-known song from 2017 that demonstrated the whole band could’ve made it in hard rock as well as pop country.The next display of musicianship came when the band asked the crowd for requests (a rarity at big-time shows where every aspect of the production is typically tightly managed), ultimately playing “Hawaii” and “I’ll Roll.” While Ramsey declared he was nervous to sing the latter after not playing it for awhile, he needn’t have, as the song’s slower acoustic sound provided one of the night’s highlights.
Another show of Old Dominion’s unexpected range came when they played the last portion of what seemed like the song the crowd was anticipating the most, “One Man Band,” in a distinct, almost reggae-fied sound. It was the kind of choice that seemed risky when playing to a hit-hungry special event crowd (the memory of how quickly the crowd turned on Eric Church during his gospel-fied 2024 Stagecoach set it still clear in this journalist’s mind) but everyone seemed to eat it up.
Or, perhaps concertgoers were too busy singing their heart out as Ramsey had instructed them to do, adding that the best way for the crowd to show each other that no one is alone is to sing loudly. It was another goosebumps-inducing moment that again felt unexpectedly emo and weighty for the band that gave us the immortal lyric “I was drunk as a skunk eating lunch with a cross-eyed bear.”
While Ramsey joked earlier in the show that everyone would leave once they played “One Man Band,” that prediction seemed far from accurate as the group continued with hits “Memory Lane,” “Song for Another Time” and “I Was On a Boat That Day” to close the show.
During the latter, Ramsey placed a heart-adorned headpiece — the kind of thing that you would expect to see a kid wearing at the classroom Valentine’s Day party — on his head that had been thrown on stage earlier and declared that it seemed like it was the right fit for the mood.
“Maybe it’s just because we feel so much love here tonight,” he added.
It felt like the perfect way to cap off an evening with Old Dominion — an evening that featured just the right mix of lighthearted fun and genuinely touching moments.
About midway through the show, Ramsey explained that the band would be stuck in the Coachella Valley for the next few days because their flight back to Nashville had already been canceled ahead of the impending winter storm.
He then remarked that the band would be looking for recommendations for things to do in valley for the next couple of days.
Well, boys here’s my pitch: How about we all meet down the road at Neil’s Lounge or Red Barn for round two? After all, Friday’s sold-out show proved Old Dominion is one act the Coachella Valley is still hungry to hear from again and again.
Where is Old Dominion from?
Old Dominion was formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2007.
The band’s members chose the name Old Dominion because it’s the nickname of Virginia, where most of them are originally from.