Last night was HOT and it wasn’t just the weather! LP Field was on fire last night with one of the best shows I’ve seen. Luke Bryan hit the stage first and sang his hits “Country Man”, “We Rode In Trucks”, “All My Friends Say”, and his newest single “Do I.” He really worked the crowd and I must say he’s got a pretty good little wiggle. Country Girl is right when she says he really should be headlining his own tour.

Little Big Town took the stage next and while I am not the most familiar with their work I will say they did great. They sang “Vapor”, “Boondocks”, and a couple other songs that I didn’t really know.

Rodney Atkins was up next and he sang “These Are My People”, “Cleaning This Gun”, “If You’re Going Through Hell”, “Watchin’ You”, and finished up with “It’s America”. He did a great job and had the crowd on their feet.

Then it was Lady Antebellum’s turn and they sang “Love Don’t Live Here”, “Lookin’ For A Good Time”, “I Run To You”, and they also covered John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good.” This was my first time seeing Lady A and it won’t be my last. They have a very good energy and they just look like they are having so much fun out there. I was very impressed.

Jake Owen brought it with “Yee Haw”, “Somethin’ About A Woman”, “Startin’ With Me”, “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You”, and “8 Second Ride.” If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Jake perform do yourself a favor and try to catch a show, it’s easy to like this guy and he’s just so personal. He has a way of just connecting with the audience and making sure you know how glad he is that you are there.

My personal favorite of the night was Zac Brown Band, can I just say WOW! These boys sure can play! You can tell these are some talented musicians. They sang “Whatever It Is”, and did an amazing version of “Devil Went Down To Georgia”- the crowd was going nuts. They finished with “Toes”, and then of course “Chicken Fried”. This band just continues to amaze and they did not disappoint last night.

Jason Aldean rounded out the night, there is just something about him. He sang “She’s Country”, “Big Green Tractor”, “Hicktown”, “Amarillo Sky”, and “Johnny Cash”. I was a little sad that he didn’t sing “Laughed Until We Cried” because it’s one of my personal favorites but he really brought his A game.

The special surprise guest of the night was Kid Rock. While I am not a huge fan, I must admit he knows how to rock the house. I don’t remember the first song he sang but then he did an extended version of “Cowboy”/”Good Ol’ Boys” (Dukes Of Hazzard Theme) and had the crowd going wild. Then he sang “Picture” and brought out surprise guest singer Martina McBride she was amazing. He then sang “All Summer Long” and thanked everybody for spending their hard earned money to come see shows even in this tough economic time.

I will say with 5 hours of great music, I got my money’s worth! You can check out the pictures that we have uploaded from this show and all of CMA Fest on our Flickr account. We add to these pictures every day so keep checking back.

Heard it through the grapevine? Drop me a line! Peggysue@countrymusictattletale.com