A Pittsburgh homecoming: Dan + Shay feel the love at Star Lake

Here are some fun facts about Dan Smyers: he’s a born-and-raised native of the Pittsburgh area; he’s a Steelers fan; he still calls Acrisure Stadium by its previous name, Heinz Field; he’s half of a Grammy Award-winning country duo called Dan + Shay; and, according to him, he had the best night of his life Friday night at The Pavilion at Star Lake

“We dreamed of playing this place, I remember Dustin and I coming to concerts right down here in the front row, when we were in sixth grade, seventh grade, country concerts on the lawn … having the greatest time,” Smyers said onstage Friday night. The hand’s bassist, Dustin Hook, is also from Pittsburgh.

This stop on the band’s “Heartbreak On The Map Tour” was fun from the start. The first opener, Dylan Marlowe, brought tons of energy with his country music that had a 2000s pop punk edge to it. He performed what he referred to as “Dylan’s version of Taylor’s Version of ‘Back To December,’” an up-tempo cover of a ballad from Taylor Swift’s third album, “Speak Now.”

The second opener, Jake Owen, was a very country mix of party and nostalgic vibes, with some great songwriting to boot. His wistful tune “I Was Jack (You Were Diane)” was a standout, and the crowd clapped and sang along to many of his laid-back beach-themed party songs.

That celebratory feeling only intensified when the headliners came onto the stage. As a series of lines formed and twisted on the big screens behind the stage, coming together into the shape of a United States map, Smyers and his co-lead, Shay Mooney, kicked off their song “All Nighter” with a yell of “One, two, three, here we go!”

The two singers, with Smyers wearing a guitar, strutted across the stage, Mooney bobbing his head enthusiastically in time with the upbeat song. The drum-heavy “Alone Together” was next, as light and tempting as a cold beer on an August evening.

“It’s good to be home!” Smyers yelled as the snappy “All To Myself” started. The crowd clapped along and twirling blue spotlights brightened the stage. He carried a Terrible Towel, to the loud approval of the audience.

“Make Or Break” revved up with car engine noises on the dark stage, “Pittsburgh, how we feeling? It’s time to get those voices warmed up!” Mooney said, and led the audience in some call-and-response singing.

After introducing their backing band, Dan + Shay kept things upbeat with “Breaking Up With A Broken Heart,” a surprisingly freeing song about moving on from heartbreak. After “Good Things,” Smyers took a break to give one of several joyful speeches to the crowd.

“Because of every person here tonight, we’re headlining the Star Lake Amphitheater tonight!” he said as the crowd screamed their approval.

As they moved into the sultry “You,” he asked, “Is anyone feeling sexy here in Pittsburgh tonight?”

Starting to slow things down a bit, they played “I Should Probably Go To Bed,” which felt reminiscent of Bruno Mars’ best work. Smyers even played an upright piano.

After “How Not To” and “Heartbreak On The Map,” the song for which this tour is named, they turned things up a notch with “We Should Get Married,” starting off slow and sweet and kicking into country overdrive. The pair donned fun jackets, and at one point Mooney even got down on one knee, pantomiming the lyrics of the song.

“Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow ain’t here yet, and it’s Friday night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the best country music fans on planet Earth. So I think today might be a pretty damn good day to be the best day of our entire lives,” Mooney said.

They moved into “From The Ground Up,” an adorable song about building long-lasting love that was tailor-made for wedding first dances. Afterwards, the two shared a great big hug and the crowd seemed to envelop them with its voice.

“I’m gonna soak in every single second,” Smyers said.

After “Always Gonna Be,” they sang “10,000 Hours,” a Grammy-winning collaboration that they recorded with pop star Justin Bieber, and the crowd made themselves heard for every line.

“Bigger Houses,” an earnest ballad and the title song from their latest album, found the two sitting on a model of a house on the stage and launched another emotional monologue.

“Pittsburgh, I told myself I wasn’t going to get too emotional,” Smyers said before having to pause because he was getting choked up. “You have no idea what it means to me and my best friend in the world, Shay, and our band, to hear you guys sing that song back to us. That song is so near and dear to our hearts. We wrote that song about exactly where we are in our lives right now.”

After another ballad, “Glad You Exist,” they crashed back into party mode with a cover of The Killers’ hit “Mr. Brightside” that was very faithful to the original. As the stage lights swept over the backing band, the audience turned to find Smyers and Mooney on miniature elevated stages at the back of the pavilion that glowed with multicolored neon lights. As the song chugged into its second verse, they even ventured out onto the steps of the lawn, and then around the edges of the pavilion back to the stage for the song’s high-octane finale.

They played the beachy “19 You + Me,” and then stopped to say “Thank y’all for making this our first number one hit on country radio” before wrapping up the regular set with “Nothin’ Like You.”

The encore began with a single bright spotlight and fog over the stage as they returned with “Save Me The Trouble.” Smyered pulled on a Pirates shirt with his name on the back during their brief time offstage.

“Speechless” was slower and soulful, and a mirrorball dropped down over the stage to bathe the audience in pinpricks of light. “Give it everything you got!” Mooney shouted before letting the audience sing the last chorus.

Before the final song, the duo announced that they’ll be releasing a Christmas album this year, so it won’t be too long until they’re back in town to tour it. Then they asked, “Do you have one more song left in you?”

That last song was “Tequila,” and Dan + Shay whipped the crowd into such a frenzy that they sang the song back louder than could have been imagined.

“When we get to the chorus, we’re going to stop the music and we’re going to turn these microphones around,” Smyers said. “I want to hear you singing louder than Noblesville, louder than Detroit and louder than Toronto combined!”

The crowd and band collaborated on the melancholy “Tequila,” and both Dan and Shay stayed for a long, long time after the song was over to sign autographs for fans. It was a homecoming welcome for Dan Smyers like only Pittsburgh can offer, and a night of pure, bubbly positivity.

The crowd was left with a lasting message from Smyers: “It means more than you know to have the support of your hometown. .. As long as you guys keep coming to see us, we’ll keep coming back to see you.”