You might remember the cover that put country music on the modern mainstream map—Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car sung by a big yee-haw man from North Carolina. Said guy, Luke Combs, is now midway through his Australia/New Zealand tour, and I was lucky enough to attend the opening night. So, here is my review of the evening filled with ‘1, 2 Many’s and No Love in Oklahoma.
Combs performed two nights at New Zealand’s largest stadium, Eden Park, with a capacity of around 50,000. Despite the fact that neither night was sold out, that was still a large number of people who would either be entering Auckland city or travelling across it. It is the city’s responsibility to cater for these people and make travel to and from the stadium as smooth as possible.
But alas, classic Auckland, the train services were not running, and so the motorway was jammed from as far south as Bombay. A topic for another day maybe, but it still wasn’t pleasant to sit in a car for hours and then spend more trying to find a park. Be better Auckland.
After we had eventually walked from our car parked 2km away, we reached the stadium mid-way through opener Lane Pittman’s set. The 18-year-old had an impressive mullet, and seemed to be having a good time.
I’d never previously been exposed to The Voice Australia competitor’s music, and from the nosebleeds, I honestly couldn’t really hear much of it. However, he served the purpose of an opener, exposing a fanbase with similar music taste to his music as an up-and-comer.
The next opener was Mitchell Tenpenny, a Nashville local with seven songs to share with the New Zealand audience. Perhaps unknown to the many bandwagon fans, he was still able to connect with the crowd with his cover of The Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris.
Finally, the third opener was the much more mainstream Jordan Davis, who played all of his hits before Combs finally appeared. Davis’ set was very exciting, and I waited in anticipation for him to play my favourite song of his (and Luke Bryan’s) Buy Dirt. The crowd enjoyed his other bangers, including Almost Maybes, Next Thing You Know, and What My World Spins Around.
Summer, beer, denim, and country music. I believe the openers did a really good job of setting the vibe in the crowd, especially Davis. As the sun began to set, everybody was hyped and excited for the main event.
It was 8:15pm by the time Combs appeared on stage, wearing jeans, a plain black top and of course an All Blacks cap. His set started with Must’ve Never Met You, then She Got The Best of Me, and Lovin on You.
Despite the ‘real’ fans adoring the songs Combs played to open, it wasn’t really the hype energy that everyone craved. Bandwagon fans were getting a little bored, and everyone just wanted to dance. At this point, my friend and I had moved seats from the very top corner of the stadium down to seats with an obstructed view that weren’t sold. Two whole sections that were blocked by the VIP tent started to fill with people who just wanted to dance and have a good time, while our previous section was filled with people who thought it was only acceptable to sit down (not my style).
Once Houston, We Got a Problem was performed, the party really started. The crowd started getting into it, especially when Combs introduced his band members who each performed a solo—one covered Who’s Bed Have Your Boots Been Under, the next Drops of Jupiter and the last really hyped the fans with What Was I Thinking.
The night continued on, the bangers playing one after another with Where The Wild Things Are, Forever After All (where we watched a couple get engaged!), Beautiful Crazy, and of course, Fast Car. This concert seemed perfect for everyone, as those who had ever remotely listened to country music knew a few songs, and even if they didn’t, they knew how to dance.
Once Beer Never Broke My Heart concluded, Combs said his goodbyes and walked off the stage, in classic performer fashion. I personally was fuming, because he forgot one very important thing—to perform the song Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma from the 2024 American disaster film Twisters featuring none other than last year’s (arguably) hottest guy of the year Glenn Powell.
Even without Glenn Powell, the song was still an absolute banger that I needed injected into my veins or at the very least to hear live. And then I started to see people leaving. Perhaps they wanted to dodge the traffic or get home early, but that’s no excuse for taking the chance of potentially missing one of the best songs on Combs’ discography.
Relief set in when he finally returned and played Better Together which eventually led into the song I had waited months to hear. And when I tell you no song has ever sounded so good live—I mean it (and I even went to The Eras Tour—sorry Tay, but you can’t beat this). When it concluded, I felt fulfilled in my concert experience (and in spending the $100 I paid to get there).
Combs (actually) departed after singing The Kind of Love We Make. As the lights turned on and cowboy boots started walking out, I felt like a new community had been created. One of country fans that were probably the furthest away from the world of country music. The fans that are usually left out of ‘world tours’ and special events.
Thank you Luke Combs for giving the Kiwi country fans what they deserve.
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