Sunday, August 10th, definitely was a Sunday Funday. Luke Bryan came to Gillette Stadium and brought his friends Dierks Bentley, Lee Brice and Cole Swindell along with him for a record-breaking night. Luke now holds the Gillette Stadium attendance record for a single night country concert which is quite the honor considering acts like George Strait, Kenny Chesney, and Taylor Swift all with strong supporting acts have also graced the turf at Gillette Stadium with their stage presence in the past. The foursome of friends have known each for quite some time going back to when Cole Swindell was the merchandise manager on the road for Luke Bryan and Luke and Dierks would play shows for 500 fans together. On this night in Foxboro, MA the foursome played some of today’s biggest country hits for a crowd of 60,000 plus.
Unlike past shows at the stadium, there was a pretty large crowd for this highly anticipated show in the stadium for the first act Cole Swindell. Cole opened the night for the Gillette Stadium crowd with his song ‘Hey Y’all’ and also played songs like ‘Brought To You By Beer’ and ‘Swayin.” Cole finished his energetic set with his top five single, ‘Chillin’ It.’
After a short intermission, Lee Brice took the stage at Gillette Stadium to a rowdy crowd of country music fans ready to see one of the hottest acts in country music today. This weekend was a particularly big weekend for Lee. Not only was he getting to play for a sold-out crowd at Gillette Stadium, but he also learned that his current single, ‘I Don’t Dance,’ reached the top spot on the country airplay charts. The South Carolina native began his set with his first number one single, ‘Hard to Love.’ Brice later went on to play ‘Love Like Crazy,’ ‘Woman Like You,’ and former number one single ‘I Drive Your Truck.’ One of my favorite moments of the night came with Lee’s performance when he was visibly emotional while singing his current chart-topping single, ‘I Don’t Dance,’ and hearing the sold out crowd sing the lyrics along with him. At the end of the song, he held his hands on top of his head and away from the microphone yelled, “Are you kidding me!?” towards the crowd. It is always a great thing to see these country artists in moments like these. Lee then finished his set with ‘Parking Lot Party’ which was an absolute hit with the crowd as the majority of the fans just ended parking lot parties of their own.
It’s not often that one show has the top two artists on the current airplay charts. However, New Englanders were treated to this rare occurrence on Sunday evening. After Lee Brice rocked the stage, former University of Vermont student, Dierks Bentley took the stage at Gillette Stadium. The Phoenix, Arizona native, who is also an avid hockey fan, is currently at the number two spot on the country airplay charts with his hit single, ‘Drunk on a Plane.’ Before Dierks took the stage, we had the opportunity to meet Dierks and we asked him if the thought that this song would be thing big. He told us that he didn’t and that he almost didn’t even put it on the album. Thank god he did, as it is a fan favorite and a great song for the singer. Dierks began his set with three consecutive number one singles ‘5-1-5-0,’ ‘Free and Easy,’ and ‘Am I The Only One.’ His set continued with ‘Tip It On Back,’ ‘Feel That Fire, and ‘Up On the Ridge’ before singing a cover of OneRepublic’s ‘Counting Stars.’ Dierks previously collaborated with OneRepublic on CMT’s Crossroads. The singer then slowed the tempo down by singing ‘Come A Little Closer.’ Dierks also got to have a special moment of his own on this August night in Foxboro as he got to sing his current smash hit, ‘Drunk on a Plane,’ and at the end he asked the crowd to make the night a night he would never forget and to sing the lyrics. The crowd obliged and together belted out the lyrics as Dierks stood on stage and listened in amazement and encouraged them as they did so.
Dierks then sang one of the songs he is most proud of, ‘I Hold On,’ which he has dedicated to his wife and talks about the things he loves including his wife, his truck and his guitar that he still plays today. Afterwards, he brought the energy back into the building with ‘What Was I Thinking’ and ‘Sideways’ before again slowing it today with ‘Home’ which he dedicated to our nations troops and first responders. And that was it for Dierks Bentley. After signing some autographs on stage including one on a guitar and giving it to a young fan, Dierks and his band took one final bow as the Gillette Stadium speakers blared The Dropkick Murphys’ ‘Shipping Up to Boston.’
One last stage change was the only thing separating the 60,000 fans and the man of the night- Luke Bryan. After some up-tempo party songs like ‘Timber,’ ‘My Kinda Party,’ and ‘Timber,’ the lights at Gillette Stadium went black. On the large video screen behind the stage, it showed a fiery theme that ended with Luke Bryan looking right at the crowd while holding a bow and a fire-lit arrow. As he let go of the flaming arrow, it seemed to land in the middle of the catwalk where a large fire flared up to the Foxboro sky. Out from below the stage came Luke Bryan and he rose to the Gillette Stadium crowd on top of a ‘big, black, jacked-up truck.’
The world’s hottest country singer began his record-breaking night at Gillette Stadium with his hit ‘That’s My Kind of Night’ before some of his older hits like ‘Rain Is a Good Thing,’ ‘Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,’ and ‘All My Friends Say.’ He then pulled at thousands of teenagers heart strings when he began singing ‘Roller Coaster.’ The emotion didn’t last long as he sang ‘Country Man’ right after. Throughout the night, Luke brought on the supporting acts to help him with various songs. He first brought Lee Brice on stage to sing ‘Crazy Girl,’ which was recorded by the Eli Young Band. Lee co-wrote this song with Liz Rose. The two sang the song while Brice played the guitar and Luke played the piano with thousands of fans singing the lyrics along with them. It was a fun moment, since just under a year since the Eli Young Band performed the song live at Gillette Stadium as one of the opening acts for Kenny Chesney. Later in the night, Luke brought on fellow Georgia native, Cole Swindell, to help him with ‘This is How We Roll.’ Although the boys from Florida Georgia Line are listed as the recording artists, Luke and Cole joined the country mega duo in writing the hit single. Cole came out in a Patriots jersey with a familiar number 12 on it and changed the lyrics a little bit to stick with the Patriots theme. “Three Super Bowl rings, Brady at the quarterback, yeah you can find us where the party’s at…”
Without Jason Aldean and Eric Church in the stadium, Luke relied on some video editing to show the two singers on the video boards during his performance of ‘The Only Way I Know.’ After ‘Suntan City’ Luke brought Dierks Bentley back on the stage to perform Dierks’ ‘How Am I Doin.” During this performance they announced that one lucky fan would get to hang out with them after the concert. This lucky fan was sitting in the seat furthest from the stage- the top row in Section 301. What a treat that must have been for that fan.
As the night neared the end of the concert, Luke performed four straight number one singles with “Crash My Party,’ ‘Drink a Beer,’ ‘Drunk On You,’ and finished his set with ‘I Don’t Want This Night to End.’ In the last song, the country star mixed in a portion of Taio Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’ which the crowd loved.
When the lights again went black, the crowd knew the show couldn’t be over. Luke still had not sung his current hit and arguably his most successful song. So when the music started up and Luke came back on stage, the crowd went wild. He ended his night at Gillette Stadium with an encore of ‘Play it Again’ and ‘Country Girl’ which also included a portion of Jason Derulo’s R&B hit, ‘Talk Dirty.’ As Luke’s encore ended, Gillette Stadium was completely lit up by fireworks that could have outmatched a small town’s Fourth of July fireworks display.
To say the least, it was an amazing show. Fans throughout the iconic stadium were saying, “I don’t want this night to end,” just like the headliner sang earlier in the night
Want to recap the night? You can with our concert recap videos! We have both a condensed, short version as well as a longer version. Check them out below or on our YouTube page with other great videos from the night.
We also have more photos and videos on our Instagram page!
Condensed version.
Full length version:
Luke Bryan brings his tour to the New England one more time this year: September 11th at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH. You can get tickets to that show here.