Luke Bryan knows how to party. The 40-year-old country music superstar who has scored CMA’s coveted entertainer of the year award two years in a row, definitely proved worthy of that honor Friday night at a sold-out stop on his Kill the Lights Tour at the Forum in Inglewood.
Bryan’s rowdy fans turned out for a good time since it was the kick off to the weekend and apparently time to absolutely cut loose. Coming out with “Rain is a Good Thing,” Bryan, in his signature skinny-skinny jeans and backwards baseball cap immediately had the ladies, who clearly outnumbered the men 10 to 1, just melting in the palm of his hand. He has definitely figured out his audience, as shown with every pelvic thrust and hip shake, especially during “Kick the Dust Up” and “Move,” came roaring screams.
He got right down and in the crowd, slapping high fives and holding hands with the ladies, as he made his way down the catwalk. He even grabbed a few cell phones to take on-stage selfies during “All My Friends Say” which transitioned into “Country Man.” As “This Is How We Roll,” a Florida Georgia Line hit that features Bryan, cued up, it was met with more screams and soon became one of the loudest sing-a-longs of the evening. He kept the energy high during “Drunk On You,” and “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” even strapping on a guitar for a while.
Bryan had a little fun mid-set, as he walked to the end of the catwalk and onto the large platform where all of the evening’s talent spent most of their time, making the show much more of an in-the-round experience. He got a little pun-y as he addressed the crowd with some 2Pac lyrics, “Inglewood, Inglewood always up to no good.” He then gave a little nod to openers Little Big Town by singing/slaughtering their hit “Girl Crush” and adding in his own, more realistic lyrical content. “Any woman would be like ‘She ain’t taking my man, I don’t give a damn what her perfume smells like.’”
Cruising through “Crash My Party,” “Play it Again,” “Roller Coaster” and the more mellow “Strip it Down,” Bryan briefly exited as he sank into the middle of the platform. He returned after a few moments with LBT’s Karen Fairchild to sing their hit, “Home Alone Tonight.” The rest of LBT joined the pair on stage for a couple of covers, including Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and, to help set the mood, Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
Tour opener Dustin Lynch even came out to get crazy with Bryan during a cover of Brooks & Dunn’s “Play Something Country,” which had the duo running around the platform and sharing cans of beer, pulled from a cooler on stage, with the audience. The all-night dance fest came to a close with Bryan flawlessly delivering some of his biggest hits: “Drink a Beer,” “That’s My Kind of Night” and “Country Girl (Shake it for Me).”
Little Big Town was so strong Friday night. The country quartet has such perfect harmonies and so much energy, from the boot- stompin’ “Little White Church” to the mellow drinking sing-a-long, “Pontoon,” everything about the performance was on point. Fans raised their cups high during “Day Drinking” and laughed as Kimberly Schlapman shared the band’s experience on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “We did some mean tweets and some people are really mean,” she said with a laugh. “Some people’s mama’s didn’t raise them right.”
Little Big Town squeezed in one of its older singles, the more Southern rock-sounding “I’m With the Band” and busted out a cover of Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’.” The group rounded out its set with “Tornado,” a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” “Girl Crush” and ended with “Boondocks.”
Lynch has definitely stepped up his stage presence and really puts on a solid show. With his perfectly shaped cowboy hat and his Ozzy Osbourne “Bark at the Moon” baseball tee, Lynch strutted his stuff with “Where It’s At (Yep, Yep)” and “Seein’ Red” and showcased his classic country vocal with “Cowboys and Angels.” He’s fun, personable, already has a great arsenal of hits and the ladies love him, so it probably won’t be long before he’s giving Bryan some stiff competition for that CMA entertainer of the year title.
Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com
