Hardy is one of the hottest acts in country music right now, but he can still feel intimidated by the size of his audience.
“When I’ve been fortunate enough to play stadiums and things like that, I go see it during the day so that when I go out there and see just the magnitude, it doesn’t freak me out,” Hardy, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly while discussing his partnership with UScellular. “I remember when I played Ohio Stadium opening for Morgan Wallen, I did not do that, and I walked out and for about the first song and a half I was panicking. ‘Cause I was like, ‘There’s a lot of freaking people out here!’”
Even with that minor stage fright, though, Hardy has managed to cultivate a great relationship with his fans, some of whom have asked him to sign some interesting objects over the years. A lot of that has been captured on social media, but now, Hardy’s trying to convince his fans to live in the moment a bit more.
“I would never judge a crowd or be outspoken about it on stage in a negative way, but it always breaks my heart a little bit when [during] some of the biggest moments of the show, instead of people being present, the phone goes up,” he told Us. “It’s like they’d rather enjoy it later.”
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His partnership with UScellular, part of their “Life in US Mode” campaign, is all about remembering to go phone-free occasionally.
“I truly believe that being present and having real memories and putting the phone down every now and then is so important,” Hardy told Us. “My dream scenario [at a concert] would be to put the phones in a lockbox and just call it a day. I would just love to see what it looked like if everybody were just there and just present.”
Through March 16, Hardy fans can enter UScellular’s Hardy VIP Fan Experience Sweepstakes for the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to see the singer perform live this summer. To learn more, go to UScellular.com/HARDY.
Keep reading for more of Hardy’s behind-the-scenes secrets of life on the road:
Pre-Show Ritual
I take a shot with the band right before we walk on stage. I go in and out of whiskey and tequila. When it’s cold, I drink a lot of bourbon, and when it’s in the summer, I try to stick to tequila.
We always have guests. We feel like we’re hosting people a lot, which is a great thing. But one thing that I have found to be very important is I have a party room and then I have a green room for me and my band, so that about 30 minutes before showtime, I’ll leave the party room and we’ll all go into the band room and just hang out together. Sometimes you don’t get to see each other during the day … [so we] just catch up and really kind of reestablish that bond before we go get on stage.
Favorite Song to Play Live
“Boots” — it never gets old. It’s fun. Every single time I’m gonna, I’m gonna go with Boots. It’s one of those songs where it wasn’t a single, but it was a really big non-single song for me. The crowd loves that one. I always know it’s coming, but it kind of comes as a surprise. And then boom, we start the song … and then of course the song itself has a lot of energy.
Ideal Afterparty
Once I come down a little bit and get showered up, what I love to do is go to a bar that is empty and have a lot of people from our tour and our guests just leave campus. We’ve been on site all day, but [I like] to go somewhere else and just hang out and celebrate and really just get to relax and see all the people that worked hard all day and the people that came to hang out and see the show. Just anything like that. Something casual.
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Lucky Charm
I wouldn’t say lucky, but there is this crazy pair of shoes that I found a couple years ago called Floafers. I’ve worn them almost every single show now for, like, a year. People compare them to Crocs, it’s their own company, but it’s this crazy-looking loafer shoe and I wear it with these big, ugly, long white socks, and it’s just a part of my look. That’s what I’ve been doing for a while.
Most Challenging Song to Perform
I have a song called “Jack,” and it’s just a lot of words and it’s a lot of singing. It’s also a lot of energy, and lyrically, it doesn’t stop a whole lot the whole time. That one’s a challenge. I’ve definitely had to learn how to breathe differently during that song.
How He Calms His Nerves
With really big venues when I’ve been fortunate enough to play stadiums and things like that, I go see it during the day so that when I go out there and see the magnitude, it doesn’t freak me out. [Before the show] I’ll go out there, stand on stage, kind of look around at how big a place is.
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Wildest Autograph
A prosthetic leg. And then this is crazy, but in Australia, there’s a thing called a shoey when you chug a beer out of someone’s shoe. OK, well, I did that with a prosthetic leg. I don’t remember where it was, but I signed it and drank a beer out of a prosthetic leg on stage.
Most Cherished Souvenir
I actually have a lot of my trinkets and whatnot in the studio. A sweet little girl with cancer gave me a little purple dragon, a stuffed animal dragon, and it was just a really meaningful moment. I think it’s on my bus, but I’ve kept it for a couple years now.
