Believe it or not, before the stadium pageantry, country star and, perhaps more recognizably to the newer generation, television celebrity judge Luke Bryan was an unassuming (but hardly uncharismatic) boy in small-town Leesburg, Georgia. With a karaoke machine he got for Christmas and a guitar, which he taught himself how to play, he navigated the country music industry, eventually reaching colossal repeat stadium showings like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
In fact, Bryan’s name appears more times than any other solo artist on RodeoHouston’s official Top 25 Rodeo Individual Performances list, incredibly pulling crowds in excess of 75,000 in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Last year, too, his performance attracted 74,779 cheering fans (hardly a sneer worthy statistic). It’s clear the “But I Got a Beer in My Hand” singer belongs on the spinning stage with the best of them. After all, 2024 marks his eleventh appearance at RodeoHouston.
Luke Bryan gave us the standard rodeo concert kickoff: fireworks, pyro, and a dramatic light show. He hopped out of the obligatory black SUV, grabbed the mic, and looked out to the tens of thousands of spectators, “What’s up Houston rodeo? How we feeling Thursday night?” His band played the first few chords of “Kick The Dust Up” and away we went, swept into the country western reverie of Luke Bryan.
Following the opening song, RodeoHouston got a little more profanity (after HARDY’s Saturday night F-bomb) as Bryan professed his love for the olfactory joys of being in the center of the Rodeo’s enormous dirt filled football field. “I love the smell of horse shit!” He declared, in his familiar stentorian drawl, as he fiddled with his guitar, “I love horse shit!”
His voice sounded a little rough, here and there. It even broke at the peak of some musical phrases that he would normally sing competently and with ease. The Leesburg native soon admitted he was feeling under the weather but, with the help of some tequila, he was determined to bring a great show to his Houston fans.
A few numbers into his set, Bryan surprised fans with a song debut for his newest offering, “Love, You, Miss You, Mean It”. The crowd waved their phone lights back and forth to the beat but the song was otherwise presented somewhat unceremoniously. After he finished singing he uttered an understated, “thank you” and moved on.
Bryan is an inveterate lover of country music, but, too, and little known, he was once the star of his school’s theater department. This may seem at odds with his stolid, western persona (like his hero, George Strait) but it’s that stage-ready charisma that has brought him so far.
It was the singer’s eighth number of the night, “Drink a Beer,” his 2013 single about coping with love lost, that hooked the crowd. Many fans stood up and sang the lyrics. And, yes, there were a few tears. “Y’all drink a beer for someone that you love tonight!” He insisted, over the song’s final guitar strums. Here the audience got the night’s first glimpse of that genre-defying stage presence, but it wasn’t the last.
For the next six songs, Bryan and company gave the crowd the fast paced finale they’d been anticipating. “All right” Luke declared, “we’re ready to party the rest of the night, are y’all ready?” The band played crowd favorites like Luke’s celebrated mashup of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” with his own “One Margarita,” “Play It Again” and “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)”. Usually Bryan would walk off the stage and out to the metal railing to interact with the fans during this song but, perhaps because he was sick, he opted to stay put. Still, there was no shortage of hip thrusts—on or off the stage.
The last song, “That’s My Kind of Night”, from Bryan’s 2013 record Crash My Party, was rendered in true Texas fashion, as the singer closed out the night by singing the last verse and chorus of the song on the bed of a Ford pickup truck while it carted him away from the stage, and off the field.
What’s Luke Bryan at RodeoHouston? Less tour de force, more Vegas residency in cowboy boots. But it’s a worthy residency. Alongside rodeo veterans like Brad Paisley (sixteen Rodeo appearances) and Blake Shelton (six Rodeo appearances) Bryan has earned his place on the revolving star. His 2024 concert drew a lower crowd than years past, a paid attendance of 66,170. But we can blame it on the rain, and indeed the event’s overall lower attendance this year.
Luke announced his “Mind Of A Country Boy Tour” last month, which will see him performing alongside American Idol’s nineteenth season winner Chayce Beckham and up-and-coming Canadian singer songwriter Tenille Arts. The tour is set to start in April, winding its way through Canada and the U.S. on a seven month North American excursion set to conclude in Florida in mid October. But for Texan fans, it was Rodeo or bust, as the tour is set to miss the state completely.
Setlist
Kick the Dust Up
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
What Makes You Country
Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day
Love You, Miss You, Mean it
Country On
Drunk On You
Drink a Beer
Buy Dirt
Sweet Emotion / One Margarita
Rain Is A Good Thing
I Don’t Want This Night to End
Country Girl (Shake It For Me)
Play it Again
That’s My Kind Of Night
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
