My roommate, Heather, and I along with a couple of friends had the privilege of attending not only opening weekend of the 2nd leg of Jason Aldean’s Wide Open tour but it was also his hometown show in Macon, GA. We had heard tidbits from other people that attended opening night as to what to expect for the new set-up, but we were pretty much kept in suspense.

After waiting literally all day outside for the concert, we finally got inside and claimed our spots right in front of the stage in the pit. Love and Theft were the first openers. I had seen them open for Jason once before and was really impressed with them. This time was no different. They opened their short set with “Can’t Go Back.” Their set also included their current single “Dancing in Circles,” and Martina McBride’s current single “Wrong Baby Wrong” which they happened to write. They finished their set with their first single “Runaway.”

Up next was everybody’s favorite country man, Luke Bryan, who also happened to be from Leesburg, GA which was only about an hour and a half away from Macon. This was my 11th time seeing Luke Bryan and every show of his is better than the last. He kicked his set off with his hit single “Doin’ My Thing” which really got the crowd going. From then on, it was a non-stop party. His set included his hit singles “We Rode in Trucks,” and “Country Man,” and his current single “Rain is a Good Thing,” and a few other songs off of his latest album. Before launching into his last single “Do I,” he told the crowd he had always wanted to be able to stand on stage in an arena and thank the crowd for giving him his first number one, and now he got to do just that. At the end of “Do I” Luke turned the singing over to the crowd and everyone in the arena sang back to him as he looked on in amazement and joy. He ended his set with his party anthem “All My Friends Say.” I was disappointed he did not include his cover version of One Republic’s “Apologize” though.

After what seemed to be a quick set change, it was time for the moment we had waited all day for. It was time to see the new stage set-up that everyone had been anticipating. On the last tour, before Jason took the stage, they always played the “She’s Country” remix by rapper Finesse. This time, they changed it up and played a mixture of songs before dropping the white curtain to reveal the stage. The new stage was awesome. It had 2 different levels of platforms with ramps and steps going in every direction possible. Jason kicked off his show on the highest platform with “Crazy Town” from his “Wide Open” CD. He followed that with “Wide Open” before launching into a string of songs including “I Use What I Got,” “I Break Everything I Touch,” “Why,” “Johnny Cash,” “Laughed until We Cried,” “On My Highway,” and his current single “The Truth.”

At one point, the whole band left the stage and Jason came out with just his guitar to do an acoustic version of one of my absolute favorite songs, “Asphalt Cowboy.” Then he was joined onstage by his guitarist and bassist to sing a cover of Bryan Adams “Heaven” and then the band joined him for another Bryan Adams cover “Cuts like a Knife.” He followed that with his party anthems “She’s Country” and “Hicktown” before leaving the stage.
A few minutes later, Jason came back out for his encore. He talked about how he had been in Nashville for more than ten years waiting to have a year like he had last year. He never imagined that one song would do what it did for him. Then, he goes “I never thought so many people like to get freaky on a big @$$ Green Tractor!” and then launched into his four week #1 hit single “Big Green Tractor.” The last song of the night was not one I would have ever expected Jason to sing. After a few microphone and guitar problems, Jason launched into a cover of Kid Rock’s “Cowboy.” Although the band and Jason enjoyed the song and were rocking out too it and it was a fun song, I did not like that it was his closing song. I think he should have closed with one of his songs or a different cover song, but it was still great.

I have seen Jason a total of 24 times now and I think this was one of the best. The crowd was rowdy and excited to be there and you could tell Jason and his band wanted to be there.

For anyone that has never seen Jason perform, run, not walk, to get tickets to the show closest to you. It is definitely money well spent.