Luke Bryan is one of the biggest shows to come to New Hampshire year after year. When the tour dates first came out, New England was not on the list and fans were disappointed. To the delight of many, three huge weekday shows were added for Gilford and New England Country Music was there for night one. Tickets were at an all-time premium, as each show saw passes being bought at an alarming rate. Larger than ever, Luke brought his buddies Dustin Lynch and Randy Houser along for the ride on his Kick The Dust Up Tour to the Granite State. For three sold-out nights at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, the trio rocked the stage in front of all ages of country fans in the heat of mid July.
Traffic lined the back roads of Gilford several hours before the show. With one of the most beautiful backdrops for tailgating, fans fired up their grills and turned up their radios for the parking lot party. Shortly after, gates opened for the die-hards and early-arrivers as the lines ushered through the turnstiles. The hometown group, Eric Grant Band, greeted the fans to an early concert on the Magic Hat Stage as the sun continued to pierce the day.
It wasn’t long before Dustin Lynch opened up the concert with his upbeat, party song, ‘To The Sky.’ Gracing the stage with his familiar cowboy hat, blue jeans and boots, fans began filling the pit, still hours before the main act. Creating himself a nice little fan club in New Hampshire, Dustin followed with the true-country tune ‘She Cranks My Tractor’ and ‘Mind Reader.’ With a smile a mile wide, the 30-year-old strutted up and down the stage, reaching for fan’s outstretched hands. As shown on his Twitter account, Dustin enjoyed the New Hampshire views, high atop the White Mountains during his stay. He treated the crowd with a throwback to his hit single ‘Cowboys and Angels,’ the touching story of boots and grit mixed with the soft touch of a woman that many can relate to. It was the next two ballads that had fans singing the loudest for the Nashville native. Both ‘Hell of a Night’ and radio smash ‘Where It’s At’ were highly enjoyed by New Hampshire, as Dustin’s time on stage wound down.
The party was only starting as the crowd began to get heavier. It was time for Randy Houser to bring the heat as the sun sank down behind the mountains. Backed by his band and sleek drum set with his initials ‘RH’ on the front, Houser and crew kicked things off with the fun melody, ‘Boots On.’ Up next on the set list, ‘We Went.’ His latest single to hit country radio has given another strong weapon to his already sturdy repertoire and fans love it. Randy then took a minute to say a few words. “Thank y’all for getting here early and making us feel good,” he laughed.
Similar to Dustin, Randy was able to enjoy the New Hampshire scenery on a motorcycle ride with his girlfriend along the lake. Each act raved about the scenery and weather, their own little reclusive vacation up until show time. It was the next shout out that had everyone cheering, before he sang ‘My Kind Of Country.’ “Be who you are and do what the hell you wanna do,” Randy preached. “Those who tell you not to can kiss your ass!” The words were soaked up as if he was giving the fans the answer to life. One of the fun aspects of country concerts is the artist’s tendency to cover popular songs outside the genre, which is why the crowd thoroughly enjoyed his cover of Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me,’ as the moonlight background lit up the stage. Throughout his time on stage, the Mississippi native told everyone, “There is not a damn thing I’d rather be doing on a Monday night than sing for you.” We feel the same, Randy. The path turned back to his own songs, as he belted out ‘Like a Cowboy,’ hitting all of the notes and tugging at all of the heartstrings. As if on cue, darkness was beginning to fall during his closing ballad, ‘Runnin’ Outta Moonlight.’
Anticipation grew as the stage changed over to Luke Bryan’s belongings. Before long, it was time. The bass grew deeper, until you felt it in your stomach. What better way to start off his set with ‘Kick The Dust Up,’ the name of the tour and his latest hit single that is climbing up the charts. Next was a classic. The first song many people can remember when Luke Bryan started to shoot up the country music ladder, ‘All My Friends Say’ had every fan out of their seats and dancing. No better way to finish a wild party song than to throw beers into the crowd, a beer those fans will talk about forever. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen people party like this on Monday night,” Bryan laughed. “Y’all got your shit figured out in New Hampshire. I’ll just start my Friday on a damn Monday.”
As the stage’s oversized screen turned to the classic amusement park ride look, it was evident which song was up next. ‘Roller Coaster’ had the crowd throwing their hands up in the air, pretending they were on a ride with the entertainer. Soon after, Luke was joined by his tour mates back on stage for Maroon 5’s latest tune, ‘Sugar.’ Fans clung to every word they sang as the heartthrobs threw back their solo cup drinks and cheered, “Here’s to New Hampshire!” Randy and Dustin left Luke to continue his show, singing fan favorites like ‘Crash My Party,’ ‘This is How We Roll,’ and eventually slowed things down for his first number one song, ‘Do I.’ One of the most talked about portion of the concert came when it was time to sing ‘Drink a Beer.’ Luke sang to Gilford while sitting on a wooden dock right up on stage, swinging his legs along the edge. A song oftentimes hard for him to sing, Bryan addressed the crowd. “I know y’all lost someone who you used to drink a beer with,” he said as he held up a beer. “Let’s sing this together.” Choking up throughout the soft-spoken melody, he wasn’t done praising the crowd. “Thank you for changing my life with that song.” It was time to kick things up a notch with ‘Rain is a Good Thing’ and ‘I See You,’ all before his remixed mashup of ‘I Don’t Want This Night to End’ and Taio Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’ ended the main set.
Fans weren’t letting Luke off that easily, however. A couple of minutes passed in the dark with the excitement of the possibility for more songs. The lights started giving every inclination that it was time for an encore and an encore was just what fans got. Starting it off with ‘That’s My Kind of Night’ followed by a mashup of the ever-popular ‘Country Girl’ and Jason Derulo’s ‘Talk Dirty,’ Bryan shook his way around the stage, with his coined dance moves. Known for his exciting and upbeat shows, Luke did not disappoint. Sending fans off into the night to hum their favorite songs, the countdown began until the next time he visited New Hampshire again.
This was written by Lauren Rose, contributing writer for New England Country Music. You can follow me on Twitter here.
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