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concert review: luke combs offers electrifying closer on third night of country thunder
it might be temping to suggest that luke combs’ recent ...
aug 19 2024
6 minute read
country music artist luke combs performs on day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
it might be temping to suggest that luke combs’ recent triumph with his highly respectful cover of tracy chapman’s fast car has been the fuel for his superstardom. it’s true, combs’ version of chapman’s catchy but grim classic became one of the greatest, and strangest, success stories in music last year. on sunday, the north carolinian played the final main-stage set to end the three-day country thunder festival at the former fort calgary (now the confluence) to a sold-out audience. there was more than one homemade sign in the audience that demanded he play fast car and it was certainly the best song he played sunday night. when combs explained how the song’s recognizable opening guitar riff was the first one he taught himself at the age of 21 and recalled listening to the song on cassette as a four-year-old sitting in his father’s pickup truck, the crowd went wild. but combs — who was presumably enlisted to be this year’s sunday night headliner by country thunder programmers prior to fast car climbing the charts — is hardly a one-trick pony. there was a definite go-for-broke vibe for both the performer and audience on sunday, with the singer-songwriter breaking a sweat less than halfway through opening number the kind of love we make while the audience shouted virtually every word on every song. it was a reminder that fans can be very loyal in that strange parallel universe of mainstream country music, something the festival proves each year.
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country music artist luke combs performs on day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
the main stage festivities on sunday offered a more eclectic linep than in year’s past, including spirited sets by homegrown up-and-comers mariya stokes and hailey benedict, neo-traditionalist country crooner, honkytonker and reality-tv star jake worthington, canadian expat meghan patrick and texas americana act flatland cavalry.
but combs fit the proceedings perfectly as a predictable but satisfying headliner, an artist who offers humble, good-ole-boy between-song banter and a flurry of shout-along hits. are they formulaic? of course, this is music produced by nashville’s impressive and efficient hit-making machinery. but it’s hard to be too cynical when listening to 20,000-plus enthusiasts shout along to catchy offerings such as cold as you, where the wild things are, going, going, gone and a seemingly endless run of soaring ballads like the garth brooks-esque forever after all and tender beautiful crazy. combs allowed his backup band to take lead vocals on a medley that included shania twain’s whose bed have your boots been under?, train’s drops of jupiter (tell me) and dierks bentley’s what was i thinkin’, which only added to the celebratory party-hearty vibe. by the time combs hit an electrifying run of closing numbers and encores, including that catchy ode to over-imbibing 1,2 many and the heavy guitar and pounding-drums melodrama of ain’t no love in oklahoma, the audience may have very well worn itself out.
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earlier in the afternoon, stavely, alberta singer mariya stokes offered a nice primer as the main stage opener, showcasing multiple shades of roots music. that included a satisfying run through her sassy, honky-tonk singalong christmas, arizona. she asked the audience to listen carefully to the lyrics and decide whether or not it’s “a wholesome christmas song.” spoiler: it isn’t. but it is a lot of fun, a rollicking tune about a woman’s near stalker-ish pursuit of a man that comes with a twist ending. she followed it with a lively cover of three dog night’s joy to the world, the bluesy hands on my body, funky you want me and a melancholy acoustic number called rebound. it was a nice reminder that young mainstream country artists can draw inspiration from bonnie raitt and john hiatt just as easily as shania twain.
hailey benedict performs on stage during day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
st. albert prodigy hailey benedict, whose star is definitely on the rise, also mixed some reverent tributes into her set. first discovered when she was a teenager, benedict has a impressive canon of originals and presumably played plenty of new ones on sunday afternoon. that included a tender ode to unconditional love named after dolly parton’s husband, carl dean, and an obligatory mama-worshiping number called things my mama says before ending with her epic heartbreak ballad damn you july. but she also made room for some of her heroes. that included a reasonable run through parton’s 9 to 5, which was a fairly daring move, and a medley that featured snippets of randy travis, taylor swift and keith urban songs. the latter allowed her to tell the story about being pulled up on stage by urban at the age of 14 to play an original tune in front of 20,000 people. (not a bad origin story, actually). she then offered more proof of the dna-overlap between mainstream country and hard rock with some impressive guitar shredding on ac/dc’s thunderstruck, ozzy’s crazy train and a surprisingly impressive run through guns n’ roses’ sweet child of mine
texas country artist jake worthington performs on day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
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twenty-eight-year-old texas performer jake worthington is being credited with carrying the flag for traditional country music, even if he first gained fame as a runner-up for the reality series the voice. he certainly has an appropriately twangy baritone for the material and sticks to the script with redneck-aggrandizing songs that reference good ole’ boys, honkytonks, barroom hazes and jukeboxes. he also has a habit for namedropping, shoehorning shoutouts to willie nelson, mark chestnutt and george jones into his songs. the songs themselves sound impressively authentic, particularly the spirited night time is my time, ain’t got you to hold and single at the same time. he also paid tribute to his heroes, offering a nice take on merle haggard’s big city before gamely hiccuping through a killer version of george jones’ white lightning and crooning a touching take on the late joe diffies’ is it cold in here.
worthington certainly has the voice and songs to carry the torch for neotraditional country acts like randy travis and chesnutt.
meghan patrick performs on day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
canadian expat meghan patrick, on the other hand, has songs that swing to the rockier side, although they are not without their twang. the bowmanville, ont. native has not been shy lately letting it be known that she has endured some career frustration in nashville these past couple years and seems to have funnelled that into a new batch of take-no-bs songs that emphasize defiance and self-respect. the wistful wild as me, apparently written about her new husband mitchell tenpenny, was a highlight as was the unreleased golden child, the title track of her upcoming album that has her sounding like a twangier stevie nicks. songs like blistering chaser and soulful whether you love me or not showcase a versatility patrick has fostered ever since she fronted an all-girl punk band as a preteen in bowmanville (she later sang funk and soul and studied opera in university). she offered a galloping and slightly twanged-up take on no doubt’s just a girl, which was apparently a song she sang in the punk band. patrick dropped some motivational advice into the proceedings, a common practise at country thunder, while occasionally downing “shots” of some purple substance. she is a dynamic performer, adding the odd high-kick into her dance moves and showcasing a commanding stage presence.
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meghan patrick performs on day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
texas act flatland cavalry couldn’t match patrick’s energy and the lethargy of the sun-soaked crowd by this point in the evening didn’t help matters. around mid-set, grinning soft-spoken frontman cleto cordero had the crowd chant “that ain’t country” to preview the song country is. it could have been, but probably wasn’t, commentary on the somewhat narrow focus of country thunder programming over the years. at their best, the instrumental prowess and synchronicity of the act recalled the band.
flatland cavalry perform on day three of the country thunder music festival at the confluence (formerly fort calgary) sunday, august 18, 2024. dean pilling/postmedia calgary
dean pilling/postmedia
there was not a lot of variety to the songs and, other than their lively take on john denver’s thank god i’m a country boy, the tempo never accelerated past a pleasant shuffle. but there was some genuine beauties in the mix, particularly opening number spinnin’, one i want and gettin’ by. cordero’s smokey vocals were effective, particularly during a glistening cover of fleetwood mac’s landslide and the ballad sleeping alone. the six-piece outfit showcased a subtlety that is rare in mainstream country. the fact the set did not include any shoutouts to god and small-town life or redneck-proud anthems was certainly refreshing. ok, fine, they did offer a take on toby keith’s should’ve been a cowboy, but cordero’s nuanced vocals added extra depth to keith’s goofy song.
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and in the world of mainstream country, even slight variants to the formula are worth celebrating.
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