Luke Bryan

I'm not the biggest country fan, but living in Music City I can't help but enjoy a good country concert from time to time!  My friend LD got tickets for the sold-out Luke Bryan show at Bridgestone Arena, so I was along for the awesome country ride.  The pictures looks super far away, but they were great club-level seats with an unblocked view of everything.

Cole Swindell was the first opening act, and he wasn't too bad!  He has a lot of energy, jumping around on-stage.  I just wish he'd taken off his hat, because given he's a rising star we need to learn to recognize his face.  There were a couple of moments where I don't think he was getting the proper feedback in his ear, so we had a few cringeworthy notes... but still entertaining.

The next act was a full ten songs from Dierks Bentley.  It was interesting how you could see the increase in stage confidence and performance with each act.  Dierks was great, and he really got the crowd going.

I went into the concert familiar with a few Luke Bryan songs, but I may have left a fan.  The stadium was packed to its rafters with people singing along, and Luke and his band are very talented musicians.  He even took some time to sing solo while playing piano.  I was very impressed.

You can just tell, especially after watching the opening acts, that he takes performing to a whole new level.  I guess that's why he won ACM Entertainer of the Year!  He has a fantastic voice, a great stage presence and energy, and a very fun banter throughout the concert.

What's interesting to me is, every single artist at some point took the time to stop and thank the troops serving overseas, and talked about how great America is.  That is so very country music, right?  I think it's a nice touch for this veteran.

Look at all the cell phones glowing....

I don't see a ton of concerts here in Music City... sometimes I just don't want to pay the steep price to see some of the shows.  But then again, I'm not used to living in a city where EVERY SINGLE ONE of my favorite music acts comes to town.  I think I'll have to start putting away a little funny money to indulge from time to time.