Luke Combs’ rise to country music superstardom has been nothing short of meteoric. Since he broke through with his debut single ‘Hurricane’ in 2017 – the first of 16 Billboard Country Airplay number ones under his belt – he’s released four smash hit albums (most recently ‘Gettin’ Old’ which came out this March) and won over fans with his powerful vocals, 90s-influenced sound and relatable lyrics. Now he’s back on this side of the pond for the UK run of his world tour, finishing with two sold-out nights at The O2 in London where he first made his UK debt at Country to Country back in 2018.
After a raucous intro of ‘Sweet Caroline’ that got the whole crowd fired up and singing along at full volume, Combs arrived on stage around 9PM accompanied by his seven-piece band. The audience roared their approval as he came out to a wicked guitar riff and drum roll combination, and he responded by sticking his tongue out before launching into ‘Lovin’ On You’ from his 2019 album ‘What You See Is What You Get’. It was a really playful, high energy start to the set that showed off the power in his vocal as well as his distinctive rasp and the 90s country influences that are so predominant in his music. You knew straight away you were going to be in for a fun evening and could just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Over the next 90 minutes Combs took the crowd through all four of his albums, running the gamut from the driving, rock-influenced ‘Hannah Ford Road’ to the biting, punchy ‘Cold As You’ and ‘Houston, We Got A Problem’, which was packed with lyrical detail and a heartfelt lyric that belied its bombastic delivery. Combs also got plenty of chances to show off his vocal chops throughout, whether that was belting out a huge note at the end of ‘One Number Away’ after leading the first crowd singalong of the night (not that they needed any help with that as the whole of the O2 was singing every word start to finish!), delivering a fiery version of ‘She Got The Best Of Me’ or the raw power of ‘Must’ve Never Met You’ which featured a dramatic blackout moment midway through.
For me some of the standout moments came during the slower numbers. The traditional-sounding ‘Love You Anyway’ was an early highlight, with some beautiful fiddle playing that complimented the richer tones of Combs’ voice perfectly, whilst ‘Going, Going, Gone’ had a wistful, introspective feel about it and ‘Doin’ This’ was full of conviction and passion – you truly believe Combs would be performing ‘in some no-name town’, even without him namechecking the O2 during the song! Elsewhere, ‘Beautiful Crazy’ and ‘Forever After All’ provided warm, romantic moments that lightened the set up a little, the heavier take on debut single ‘Hurricane’ gave it a great refreshing twist, and fan favourite ‘Fast Car’ was understandably one of the biggest songs of the night. Combs has really made the classic track his own and his stripped-back approach puts a huge emphasis on the tenderness in his vocal as he delivers the lyrics.
Another thing which stood out to me was how much Combs has grown into the way he delivers his performance. He peppered the set with stories from across his career, and could be seen throughout the show pacing back and forth across the stage as well as thanking the audience for coming out and ‘spending your hard-earned money’ to see the show. At times he almost looked like he couldn’t believe he was playing to 20,000 people and it was so nice to see just how much he loves the UK crowd and that the feeling is very much mutual. I also loved the band introduction medley midway through, which saw band members Jamie, Corey and Tyler deliver their takes on ‘Dust On The Bottle’, ‘Meet In The Middle’ and ‘When I Was Your Man’ respectively. It was a really nice way to show off their skills (how Tyler in particular hasn’t been snapped up for his own recording contract yet I don’t know, because Combs wasn’t wrong when he said he could sing!) and I liked that Combs did something different rather than just giving them a shout-out at the end.
Combs closed out his main set with the one-two-three punch of ‘1, 2 Many’ – which included his usual trademark of shotgunning a beer midway through before throwing it into the crowd – the cheeky, uptempo ‘When It Rains It Pours’ and a rowdy rendition of ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’. On the latter song, he encouraged the audience to ‘give it everything you’ve got left in the tank’, and they absolutely responded with gusto, belting out the song and practically taking the roof off the arena! He waved to fans as he left the stage and they demanded his return almost instantly, loudly chanting his name and stomping to summon him back.
For his encore, Combs kicked off with the ballad ‘Better Together’. It’s a really sweet, touching song that’s full of affection and you could spot plenty of couples in the audience swaying along together as he sang it, accompanied simply by Corey on piano. He followed that with ‘The Kind Of Love We Make’, which showed off a slinkier side to him we don’t often get to here and got an enormous crowd reaction as well. After finishing the song, he could be seen signing everything from posters to hats and even an Irish flag somebody handed to him, before waving goodbye and promising “we’ll see y’all real soon” as the band played an extended outro.
Overall Luke Combs delivered an excellent performance that showed why he’s become the biggest star in country music as well as being able to cross over into the mainstream. He’s got one of the most powerful voices in the genre and every time I see him live he seems to come on leaps and bounds as an entertainer. It takes real skill to hold an audience of 20,000 people in the palm of your hand without flashy sets or big performances, and yet he does it with absolute aplomb and kept the entire O2 completely enthralled throughout. If I have any small criticisms, it’s that the set felt a little ballad heavy in the middle for me – although to be fair given those are his big hits it’s kind of inevitable he needs to get them in there somehow – and after the high of ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ the encore seemed a little off (personally I’d have swapped it round with ‘The Kind Of Love We Make’). However, the whole set felt like a complete triumph and it seems like from here he can only go stratospheric – could we be looking at a UK stadium tour next time he crosses the pond? We’ll just have to wait and see…
Set list: 1. Lovin’ On You 2. Hannah Ford Road 3. Cold As You 4. One Number Away 5. Houston, We Got A Problem 6. Love You Anyway 7. Going, Going, Gone 8. Must’ve Never Met You 9. Doin’ This 10. Beautiful Crazy 11. Band Introduction Medley – Dust On The Bottle (David Lee Murphy cover) (performed by Jamie) / Meet In The Middle (Alabama cover) (performed by Corey) / When I Was Your Man (Bruno Mars cover) (performed by Tyler) 12. Forever After All 13. Fast Car (Tracy Chapman cover) 14. She Got The Best Of Me 15. Hurricane 16. 1, 2 Many 17. When It Rains It Pours 18. Beer Never Broke My Heart Encore: 19. Better Together 20. The Kind Of Love We Make Performance date: 19th October 2023
