Luke Combs fires up packed house at Canadian Tire Centre

Ottawa has long had a reputation of being the city that fun forgot…but yet time and time again Ottawa music fans come out in droves to prove everyone wrong. Thursday night was no different as Luke Combs brought his long anticipated Canadian Tour to a sold out Canadian Tire Centre, his second visit to Ottawa this year. (Luke drew massive crowds this summer when he headlined RBC Bluesfest).

American Idol winner, Chayce Beckham, kicked off the night and quickly showed that the future of country music is strong. Beckham won the 19th season of American Idol on May 23, 2021 beating out the late Willie Spence for the title. His single “23” was just recently certified Platinum. His latest single “Keeping Me Up All Night” was released in August and has already been streamed over 2 million times on Spotify. Although Beckham’s performance on Thursday was just a short taste of what he’ll be bringing to the stage it left little doubt that he’s going to quickly become a regular on the country tour circuit across North America.

The most anticipated act, for me anyway, on this bill was Riley Green. Green first came on my radar with his 2018 breakout hit “There Was This Girl”, which happened to be co-written by our friend Eric Dylan. It’s one of those songs that so many of us can relate to, myself included. Doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a girl I’m willing to bet you’ve got a story where you did something to impress someone else and you justify the outcome (good or bad) on that other person. You know the kind of person you’d do anything for…that’s what this song is about. This single was followed up with another single that, I’m sure, we can all relate to…”I Wish Grandpa’s Never Died”…fun fact did you know that this song’s lyrics were changed for it’s radio release? The original version of the single had a line that said: “I wish country music still got played on country radio…”, of course country radio didn’t like that so Green was forced to change it to “I wish George Jones still got played on country radio…”.

Green didn’t disappoint, it’s nice to see true country music still being made; Music that’s about the song and the feeling behind the lyrics…kudos to Luke Combs and his team at Sony Music for putting together a tour with a strong undercard of lyric driven country artists.

Of course the main attraction, Luke Combs, rocketed to super stardom in the last decade because his music is relatable and lyric driven…mix in a couple of beer drinking, girl lovin’ party songs and you’ve got a magic combo. Just as humble as the day he arrived on the scene Combs still got emotional when talking about how country music has changed his life over the past decade.

Combs wasted no time getting the sold out crowd in Ottawa fired up…the show started with AC/DC’s Thunderstruck which set the energy bar high and it didn’t come down once until the last lyric was sung. From the second that Combs set foot on the stage the crowd was on their feet…to be honest I don’t think I sat down again until I got to my car at the end of the night. Combs kicked off the show, as he did at RBC Bluesfest this summer, with “1, 2 Many” which, of course, included Combs shotgunning a tall can of beer and then tossing it into the crowd.

From that point on it was a hit parade filled with rockin’ country songs and a few songs that were guaranteed to tug at the heart strings. Mid-way through “Even Though I’m Leaving” Combs was hit by a cup filled with ice that was thrown from the crowd. Without lose a beat he removed his mic from the mic stand and walked over to the front of the stage and motioned for people to move aside so he could see the perpetrator. Combs finished the song but it was clear he wasn’t finished with that individual. He walked down the catwalk and stood on the edge and just tore into the individual saying “Hey hardass, where you at? Hey hardass, I’m talking to you. Where you at? You throwing sh*t at me? You ain’t so tough now are you?”. I thought for sure we were about to get treated to a boxing match featuring Luke Combs and some drunken kid in the crowd but Luke’s guitar player came over and said something to him which seemed to de-escalate the situation. The individual was the escorted out of the venue by security.  You can watch the entire incident here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu7zHeec8Uw&t=15s

It seemed like this incident fired up Luke and the crowd even more and the energy in the building was palpable for the rest of the night. There was a report about a fight breaking out in the crowd as well but if that happened in Ottawa I somehow missed it, plus in video that showcased that fight security was wearing bright yellow jackets which was not the case in Ottawa.

This was my third time seeing Luke Combs live and easily my favourite of the three shows. Luke’s performance just keeps getting better and his fan base keeps getting bigger…no doubt Luke Combs has solidified himself as one of the biggest country music stars in history…is it too early to start talking about the Country Music Hall of Fame?

There’s two more Canadian shows on this tour, this year. If you’re lucky enough to find tickets Luke Combs will be performing at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario this Monday and Tuesday. If you’re in Western Canada don’t fret because Luke Combs will be coming out your way this coming spring with a show in Vancouver on May 27 and in Edmonton on June 3. For a full list of dates visit https://www.lukecombs.com/tour-dates/

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