Last night, Nova’s Red Room welcomed rising pop-country star Dasha for a standout live performance, playing to an intimate crowd at the iconic Prince Bandroom in St Kilda.
Nova’s Joel Creasey hosted the night, welcoming the US artist to Melbourne.
To chants of “Dasha, Dasha, Dasha”, the star took to the stage, telling the crowd she was thrilled to be sharing her music, opening with ‘Not At This Party’.
Dasha revealed she’d been given free rein on the setlist, telling the crowd she could play for as long as she liked and had no other plans for the night, prompting huge cheers. She launched into ‘Work on Me’, a track from her new album Anna.
The crowd was thrilled to hear she’s already working on a brand-new album, but playfully booed when she revealed she was heading back to Nashville today to continue recording.
Her next track, ‘Look Who’s Missing Who’, quickly turned the mood celebratory, with fans clapping along and singing the chorus.
Dasha shared that despite the next song’s chart success, some of the negativity around it “f*ked with her head” for a time. She said she had to reconnect with her younger self, leaning back into that fearlessness and confidence, before performing ‘Oh Anna’.
She also delivered a cover of ‘Break Even’ by The Script, putting her own country spin on the classic.
Dasha continued with ‘Way Too Drunk’, ‘Didn’t I?’ and the unreleased ‘Memo’, turning the Prince Bandroom into a full-on hoedown as fans grabbed their friends, hooked elbows and danced in circles. She shared that she had “always wanted to get the crowd to do that” and capped the moment with a classic “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” chant.
Next up was ‘Bye Bye Bye’ and as the track wrapped, Dasha thanked Nova’s Red Room for a great night.
For her final song, she asked the crowd to bring the energy, breaking into ‘Austin’, which quickly became the crowd favourite. The track has surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, cementing its status as a modern country anthem and making Dasha only the second solo female country artist to join Spotify’s Billions Club.
High-profile media and industry guests included Channel 7’s Andrew McCormack and Nova’s Jase Hawkins, Clint Stanaway, Lauren Phillips, Jack Charles, Mel Tracina and Joel Creasey.
NOVA Entertainment was also well represented, with Chief Commercial Officer Nicole Bence, Marketing Director Troy Pearce, Group Head of Partnerships Stephanie Loupelis and Head of Music – Nova Network, Scott Baker-Smith in attendance.
Images supplied by NOVA Entertainment.