The superstar is performing a second night in DC on July 27th
“My name is Luke Combs,” he said sheepishly, as if 65,000 people had arrived to see a virtual unknown. Quite the opposite. The biggest star in country music brought his neo-traditional sound to Commanders Field in Washington DC on Friday night (July 26th). It was the first of two Combs shows at the stadium.
Of course, that humility is part of Combs’ everyman charm. His stage outfit is literally what one might wear to go fishing. He talks softly, yet in a confessional style. He admitted he hadn’t even been on a plane until his mid-twenties. “Houston, We Got a Problem” followed.
Combs left the crowd wanting for nothing as he slammed his way through nearly 30 of his songs from different eras. An early set surprise was “Honky-Tonk Highway,” a selection off his breakout album This One’s For You.
Combs’ music have become country music mainstays in seemingly record time. Riding the wave of “When It Rains, It Pours” it was as recent as 2018 when Combs opened for Jason Aldean. Now, Combs fills the same twice a weekend on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour.
From his new album, Combs offered “Remember Him That Way.” His band on the front of stage apron, the acoustic performance accentuated the pensive tone of the song.
The set featured a moment of democracy: as fans entered the stadium, they could vote on a rarity that Combs’ would play. The crowd chose “Growin’ up and Gettin’ Old.” (I was outvoted. I chose “Beer Can.” Oh well.)
The fans inside the Commanders Stadium sang the ballads back with the same vigor as they did the high-tempo honky-tonkers. No matter what he’s singing, the 90s country influence on Combs is more than obvious. He’s been a leader in the refreshing movement to return to a more steel-and-fiddle “traditional” sound and away from loop-heavy pop country.
“Country’s sounded a lot more country tonight than it has in a long time,” he once said while accepting an Entertainer of the Year award. But Combs himself a large part of the reason for it.
One such example: the drinking song “1,2 Many” has Brooks and Dunn DNA all over it. And while the duo was unable to join Combs on stage for the number—they cameo on the recording—he did honor them with a cover of “Brand New Man.”
Opening this show were The Wilder Blue, Hailey Whitters, Charles Wesley Godwin, and The Avett Brothers. They each delivered tight sets worth arriving early to catch. On July 27th, Colby Acuff, Drew Parker, Mitchell Tenpenny and rising superstar Jordan Davis will perform before Combs.
To see Luke Combs live is to see that he has taken that 90s sound and made it bigger—stadium worthy—without gimmicks and false ear worms meant to get you addicted. It’s Combs’ confidence in great songwriting that lets he and his crew play them as loud as they can.
I’m not sure if you asked him, what Luke Combs might say about his stage presence. He sings rowdy songs, but he’s not jumping off drum risers. The loudest he gets is when he’s excitedly yelling out a band member’s name to highlight them. If Combs isn’t standing with his guitar, he’s meandering the stage like one might pace in their own living room.
The stage show, too, is almost shockingly simple for a stadium tour: the screens show different angles of the stage and crowd. They are only sparingly used to show picturesque landscapes. The thrust through to the rafters are lined with lights, and that’s basically it.
But see, it’s clear why this is: Combs is a singer and a songwriter. He doesn’t need a laser show and a manic personality to reach the masses. He just needs his music. The secret to Combs’ meteoric rise is that it’s the exact opposite of the artifice of pop country. One previous album title sums it up nicely: What you see is what you get.
