Country music icon and American Idol judge, Luke Bryan, graced the stage of the Smoothie King Center Saturday night. Bryan brought tour partners Mitchell Tenpenny and Riley Green to help keep the country music alive throughout the night. The night opened with Tenpenny, who played hits like "Truth About You," and fan favorite "Drunk Me." The evening followed with country music rising star, Riley Green. Green played his hits "Different Round Here," "Put Em' on Mine," and a cover of Jamey Johnson's "In Color."
Shortly after 9 p.m., the lights started flashing and the curtains began to move, but Bryan was nowhere in sight. Then to an enormous, almost deafening sound of screams, he slowly rose from underneath the runway of his stage. Bryan opened the night with "I Don't Want This Night to End" from his quadruple platinum album, Tailgates & Tanlines. He went directly into "Kick the Dust Up" and "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye."
Bryan's energy was infectious as he danced his way to all corners of his stage while also interacting with his fans. He did a quick juggling act with his microphone before placing it into his back pocket to engage with the fans in the pit. He then spent time giving them high fives, reacting to the signs they had, flipping his baseball cap forwards, then backwards, then forwards and then backwards again, all while smiling from ear to ear. You can tell that Luke Bryan truly adores his fans. While the night carried on, we heard songs like "One Margarita," "Buy Dirt," "Drink a Beer," "Play it Again," "That's my Kind of Night," along with many other hits spanning over almost two decades. Later on in the show, Tenpenny and Green joined him for duets of songs and covers they all love and respect.
When it came time for the encore of "Country Girl (Shake it for Me)," you could almost feel the arena move when thousands of country girls, young and old, began to "shake it" in their cut-off blue jean shorts and cowboy boots. The girls weren't the only ones shaking their stuff, the boys definitely danced too. Luke Bryan brought a fun and playful spirit to the Smoothie King Center and it was a pleasure to witness. While crowds of fans were leaving you could hear them saying things like "That was the greatest show I have ever seen," "Luke really knows how to make a girl feel young again!" and "I don't want this night to end," a witty homage to his opening song.
