The first we see of Luke Combs, the North Carolina-born megastar is walking through the stadium crowd. Cap pulled low, with a bashful look on his face, the stunt is less pap walk, more regular Joe dodging a flashmob on his way to work. Combs is now the highest-selling country artist of all time, but he wears his success with humility: when he finally reaches his saloon-themed stage, with near-70,000 screaming fans before him, he keeps that unassuming presence. “Normally I’d ask how you’re feeling tonight, but I know how you’re feeling tonight,” he smiles.
This week, Combs will perform to more than half a million fans across just seven dates in England, Scotland and Ireland: a remarkable coronation for an artist yet to have a Top 10 single here. Not that you’d know it, from the way the crowd screams every word to his 2016 hit Hurricane, a soft-rock heartacher about running into your ex in a bar, elevated by a cinematic chorus (“moon went hidin’, stars quit shinin’”) that’s closer to early-doors Taylor than any country-bro machismo.
Named after recent single My Kinda Saturday Night, this short tour promises – and delivers – a party. Combs brings us three opening acts, lashings of pyro, celebrity cameos, and packs almost 30 songs into two hours. It’s a whole lot of show, but its biggest moments, such as the nostalgic-before-it’s-even-over Tell ’Em About Tonight, deserved more breathing room.
It’s a real shame that echoing sound makes it almost impossible to pick out words when Combs speaks, and muddies his more intimate songs, such as the fiddle-laced 5 Leaf Clover. But Combs has one of contemporary country’s most formidable voices, owning an almighty, torn-up roar as well as real tenderness and control, and his hardest-hitting tracks power through regardless.
His exuberant band bring power-stance, arena-rock swagger to Back in the Saddle and Beer Never Broke My Heart, while the glittering, tragedy-struck Where the Wild Things Are demands a sing-along that endures as fans walk home. By storming closer Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma (from the Twisters soundtrack), Combs is crackling with energy, his arms in the air, humbleness be damned – and deservedly so.
• At Wembley Stadium, London, from 31 July to 2 August
