Multiplatinum American pop duo Dan + Shay are headlining Toronto’s RBC Amphitheatre on October 1, which holds about 16,000 people, but as the “10,000 Hours,” “Tequila” and “Speechless” hitmakers gear up for the release of their new album, Young, on Aug. 21, they played a club show at the historic Opera House the night of June 14 for an eyeballed 600 people.
What to know
- Dan + Shay played a free NXNE concert at Toronto’s Opera House on June 14.
- The show comes ahead of the release of their new album Young on Aug. 21.
- The duo will return to Toronto on Oct. 1 for a headlining show at RBC Amphitheatre.
- Fans heard two songs from the upcoming album, including “Say So” and “Marry You Again.”
- Toronto is currently the only Canadian stop on the Young Tour.
Tickets were free for those whose names were pulled from the submission forms filled out on Ticketmaster.
On the street, a truck emblazoned with the Young cover art and a QR code linked to a pre-order page to purchase a signed copy on vinyl and CD and inside the 121-year-old venue, now owned by Live Nation, there were a number of placards with the same.
Part of NXNE, on the final day of the city-wide music festival, the Warner Music Nashville act — comprised of Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney — seemed as thrilled to be playing to hundreds of people, as they do for thousands. Among the superlative remarks, “This is a 10 out of 10” and “Toronto is the coolest city in the world.”
While the multi-level Opera House with a balcony area holds about 900 people, most of the fans packed onto the main area down by the stage. Even though tickets were free, these were genuine Dan + Shay, singing every word.
“We are close,” said Dan, letting the crowd know they would be “coming down there,” and noting their adoration, but in a funny humble way. “I feel like I could say anything and the crowd goes wild — microphone,” he yelled, as an example, as the crowd played along, cheering loudly. “Cheese,” added Shay, continuing the joke.
“Not just saying this, Toronto is literally, literally, — you can check the Internet — this is our favourite place to play in the entire,” said Dan at one point. He likely plugs in city name in every tour stop, but he makes us feel he’s telling the truth.
They started with “10,000 Hours,” the billion streamed collab with Justin Beiber, with the crowd singing along, then went into “Alone Together.” The two were backed by four players (two guitarists, drummers, bassist) that made it look like Dan + Shay were a full band that just happened to have two singers. They fit.
Dan, wearing dark glasses, frequently played guitar — and keyboard for one song — and used the microphone stand as a prop, and an op, to hold it out to the audience to sing. He leapt around, is the more talkative of the two — twice for about five minutes, he later admitted he “rambles” because he doesn’t want to leave the stage — and both seemed over the moon to be there.
Shay beamed ear to ear, often with facial expressions like he couldn’t believe the reception, which is crazy for a group that plays arenas and amphitheatres, and has racked up 14 billion global streams and received 139 worldwide multi-platinum, platinum, and gold certifications.
No doubt, Dan + Shay will get a few more plaques with Young. The set included two songs from it, “Say So,” about losing someone to suicide and encouraging someone “going through hell” to reach out, and “Marry You Again,” a romantic song that will likely be played at wedding renewal ceremonies for years to come.
The set was about an hour — and also included “19 You + Me,” their first-ever single from 2015, “All To Myself,” “You,” “Should Probably Go To Bed,” “How Not To,” “From The Ground Up,” of course, “Speechless,” and wrapped up with “Tequila” — printed out on “The Heartbreak On The Map” sheet, which was the name of their tour behind their last studio album, 2023’s Bigger Houses. And, like on that tour, Dan + Shay covered The Killers “Mr. Brightside,” singing it in the middle of the Opera House crowd — or as Dan called them “the beautiful folks down here.”
Dan + Shay are fully welcomed into the country music world — they are the only act to win the Grammy for best country duo/group performance three consecutive times — but there’s nothing overly country — rootsy or twangy — about them. It’s pop, even if, at one point in the show, Dan did call Shay “the greatest singer in country music.”
The Young Tour kicks off Sept. 11 in Noblesville, IN at Ruoff Music Center and ends Nov. 7 in Mountain View, CA, at Shoreline Amphitheatre. Right now, Toronto is the only Canadian stop. Openers for most of the dates are Tyler Hubbard and Canadian Josh Ross.
