To honor the city that gave him his start, Luke Combs played two sold-out shows at Nissan Stadium on April 14 and 15. I was given the opportunity to see the Saturday night show and it was packed full of die-hard country fans that were extremely excited to see him. The show did not disappoint, with three great openers and a lengthy set list by Combs, with classic hits like “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” new favorites like “Love You Anyway” and numerous covers.
The show included three openers, with the first being Brent Cobb, who was joined on stage by Flatland Cavalry. Cobb released his most recent album “And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…” last year, and Flatland Cavalry released “Songs To Keep You Warm” in 2022 as well. Lainey Wilson was next, who is known for her breakout single “Things a Man Oughta Know.” The singer-songwriter showed off her classic country singing style with a raspy vocal performance. Last up was Riley Green, who wore a cowboy hat paired with a white shirt, blue jeans and boots for a classic country look. The highlight of Green’s set was when he played the acoustic guitar by himself for a couple of his songs. It was heartwarming to see Green and his guitar during touching songs like “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.”
After the brief intermission, the stadium lights went out and an introduction video began to play on the jumbotrons. Combs’ friends and family talked about his childhood and his success throughout his life. When the video ended, the band began to play “Lovin’ On You” and Combs walked out to a screaming crowd. After a few songs, Combs addressed the crowd by introducing himself — as if his name isn’t on signs all around Nashville. Combs explained how, a week ago, he asked his fans on social media what his next single release should be. The choice was between “Love You Anyway” and “5 Leaf Clover” and fans chose “Love Me Anyway,” which he then performed. This wasn’t the only fan vote he included, as “Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old” was requested and performed next.
Combs’ lengthy setlist meant there wasn’t as much time for him to talk to the crowd, but when he did speak, he made sure to make it meaningful. At one point he shared advice his dad used to give him.
“It doesn’t matter what you do or what you accomplish, big or small. If you worked for it then you earned it,” Combs said.
The next song Combs performed was “Does to Me,” which Green joined Combs for part of. Many artists will introduce their band members and have them play a solo for a few seconds at some point in the set. Combs put his own spin on this by having his band members sing a verse for different covers of popular songs like “Dust On The Bottle,” “Meet in the Middle” and “When I Was Your Man.” After introducing the band, Combs played “Beautiful Crazy,” which he wrote for his wife, Nicole Hocking. Combs informed the audience that for the first time in the entire tour, Hocking was in the crowd.
(David Bergman)
Later in the night, Wilson joined Combs for a duet of “Outrunnin’ Your Memory,” which became my favorite song of the night. Combs also performed a cover of Tracy Chapman’s song “Fast Car” from his newest album, “Gettin’ Old.” Combs, who is 33 years old now, detailed how he moved to Nashville in 2014 at 24 years old and hadn’t traveled much in his life at the time but has now been all the way around the world from Europe to Mexico to Canada. Additionally, he described traveling to Texas and missing the girl he just met back home. Combs went to his hotel room and wrote the song “Houston, We Got a Problem” about missing her. He then performed the song as the crowd belted as loud as the speakers.
Combs detailed that when he moved to Tennessee, he lived above the bar he was working at and wrote songs. One song that he made in that apartment was one of his biggest hits, “Hurricane.”
Beyond telling the stories behind the songs he was performing, Combs had his funny moments, such as during “1, 2 Many,” when he shotgunned a beer in under 30 seconds on stage.
“Lots of things have let me down in life, but Nashville and beer never have,” Combs joked.
After playing “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” the performers left the stage, but the show wasn’t over. Combs encored with “Better Together” before the entire crowd sang along to a cover of Brooks & Dunn’s “Brand New Man” and all three openers rejoined Combs for “Brand New Man” to close out the show.
Combs put on his own country music festival, full of nods to other artists and classic favorites. Luke Combs stayed in Nashville for two full days to give Music City the best country “Hurricane” we could have wished for.
