A sold-out crowd celebrated country music when Hunter Hayes brought his CMT Let’s Be Crazy Tour to the Ball State campus.
Fans of all ages at John R. Emens Auditorium showed their excitement for the 22-year-old popular artist throughout the night with screaming, posters and shouts of love, which Hayes replied to by saying, “I love you more.”
Hayes is known for his musical accomplishments in his short career, including the fact that he wrote or co-wrote and performed every instrument on each song of his first studio album.
At Emens, in addition to singing, he performed guitar or piano on every song.
“Music is the one thing God gave us that will never let us down,” Hayes said.
Country duo Striking Matches opened for Hayes on Thursday night. The two performed an acoustic set of songs that included “Blame It On Me,” “Hangin’ On A Lie” and “Tell Me So.”
It was announced that the band would open for Hayes in place of Ashley Monroe, the official opening act for the tour. People Magazine announced Friday that Monroe married that evening in Tennessee.
During the set, Striking Matches performed a song that was featured on ABC’s hit drama “Nashville.” Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis wrote the song “When The Right One Comes Along,” which was performed by characters Scarlett and Gunnar during the first season’s midseason finale.
“They sang it at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville for the first time during the show, and that was where we sang it for the first time, too,” Zimmermann said. “That was the only song people knew from us for a while.”
After a brief intermission between sets, Hayes came on stage to deafening screams and loud applause. He started his performance with his first hit single “Storm Warning.”
During the show, Hayes continuously encouraged fans to be loud.
“The name of this tour [is] Let’s Be Crazy, so I mean it when I say ‘get crazy,’” he said. “Sing, dance, have the time of your life. This is the one place tonight that you can be crazy, and no one will judge you.”
Hayes performed every song from the encore edition of his self-titled album, which included his No. 1 Hot Country Songs single, “Wanted.”
Abby Jackson, a freshman telecommunications major, attended the event. She said she wasn’t a diehard fan before the show, but she’s an even bigger fan after going.
“Even though I was in the balcony, it was crazy to see so many people going crazy over Hunter,” she said. “He sounded so good live, and I was surprised because most people don’t sound as good live.”
Recently, Hayes collaborated with Jason Mraz to create a video for his song “Everybody’s Got Somebody Me.” He performed it Thursday evening and dedicated it to his “fellow awkwardly single people.”
A sneak peek of the music video, which was released Saturday, played on the jumbo screen during the song.
The audience also saw a special performance of “Where We Left Off,” the song that Hayes wrote for the movie “Act Of Valor.” He dedicated it to the service men and women that have made sacrifices for the United States.
“As a singer-songwriter, it’s the biggest honor to have someone ask you to write a song for their movie,” he said. “There is no way of fully comprehending the sacrifice [service men and women] make every day.”
Hayes closed the night with his single “I Want Crazy.” He continuously thanked fans for coming to the show and hanging out with him, his band and Striking Matches.
“I don’t think you know how much I appreciate you showing up here tonight,” Hayes said to the audience.
The CMT Let’s Be Crazy Tour will continue traveling throughout the country until December. For more information and tour dates, visit HunterHayes.com.
Adriana Agapie contributed to this article.
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