The opening night was an instant success! A lot of people didn't think that New Yorker's would take too kindly to a Country Music Festival but they flocked the streets for the entire weekend!

Last Friday, Dierks Bentley headlined the opening night of FarmBorough, New York City's first large-scale country music festival. His only regret was that this left him little time to hang out in Manhattan or Brooklyn. “I wish today that I could have cruised around,” he told reporters backstage before his set. “I just love walking around. I got little places that I like to go — I've been coming up here enough times.”

The Arizona native first visited the city in 2003, when he opened for Cross Canadian Ragweed and Pat Green at B.B. King's in Times Square. He recalled some initial fear — both for his reception and his livelihood — but all he received was an enthusiastic embrace.

For Bentley, FarmBorough was a place where he could see those fans, and those fans could see some of his own favorite up-and-coming acts. “There's something for everyone to kind of check out,” he said. “When I was a country fan I'd go to any show no matter what the conditions were or how crappy it was put on. I just wanted to go, because that's where I knew other country fans were gonna be.

A few hours later, Bentley would play one of the weekend's best sets, gesturing toward all but Disney. This leaves one NYC goal for the still-rising 39-year-old: headline Madison Square Garden, an arena he's previously played on tours with Kenny Chesney and FarmBorough Night Two headliner Brad Paisley. “That'd be pretty cool,” he admitted. “If I get a chance to headline the Garden it'd be ‘Top of the world, ma.'”

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This Article Was Adapted From: Rolling Stone

Photo Source: Lunchbox LP