Luke Combs Wembley review: ‘A crowning moment for a worldwide superstar’
After headlining back-to-back nights at the O2 Arena on his previous visit to London, Luke Combs returned to the English capital on Friday, July 31st, to kick off his three-night residency at Wembley Stadium with an epic, two-hour masterclass.
After releasing his acclaimed cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’ in 2023, Combs’ momentum skyrocketed, and he has not looked back in the years since. The cover went on to reach No. 2 on the all-genre US Billboard Hot 100, surpassing the No. 6 peak of the 1988 original, and even secured Combs the Single of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards.
Since then, he’s moved from strength to strength. The North Carolina native went on to surpass Garth Brooks to become the highest RIAA-certified country artist in history, with 168 million certified units sold and streamed, a record later broken by Morgan Wallen. He made the ascent to stadium headlining status in North America and has continued that momentum on this side of the Atlantic, with a seven-date stadium-sized run in front of over 500,000 fans that culminates with two more performances at Wembley Stadium this weekend.
Yet, despite the acclaim and sustained success, Combs remains remarkably grounded and remarkably modest, so much so, he confessed that he felt that the opportunity to perform at Wembley Stadium would never have happened to him. It was a refreshing moment of candour from Combs, who later reflected on country’s burgeoning appeal, stating his initial belief that its scope was limited to the South-East United States, but his success has resulted in him going global and the opportunity to perform at most iconic stadium in Europe is a crowning moment for a worldwide superstar.
Combs was ready to unleash a stadium-sized party from minute one as he opened the performance with a rowdy, pyro-laden ‘My Kinda Saturday Night’. ‘Lovin’ On You’ demonstrated Combs’ impressive country-rock chops with a dose of overdriven guitars and punchy drumming. “This is big in here, man,” Combs admitted as he took in the venue. "My name is Luke Combs. Welcome to the My Kinda Saturday Night Tour… on a Friday,” with a hint of humour in his voice before unleashing ‘Hurricane’.
‘She Got The Best Of Me’ packs a punch with guitars that are thicker and more robust in the live and the hard-hitting drumming of Jake Sommers, and saw Combs periodically play the role of conductor on singalongs. ‘Tell Em About Tonight’ was the perfect balance of celebration and reflection as Combs sang, in this context, about the experience of playing Wembley, and it’d be something he’d reflect on in discussions in the future.
Even performing in front of an audience of approximately 90,000, Combs ensured the performance remained remarkably intimate, performing on the catwalks attached to the stage to give the front standing pit a more up-and-close performance as well as his regular reflections, ranging from how he’d left the United States for the first time as a 25-year-old and the trilogy of tracks he wrote for his wife Nicole in ‘Beautiful Crazy’, ‘Better Together’ and ‘Forever After All’. The latter provided a lights-out moment as the acoustic-driven rendition was complemented by a tight wall of sound from the band with clean rhythm guitars, a pedal steel and intricate drumming.
However, it wasn’t simply the Luke Combs show at Wembley. A medley consisting of an instrumental-only version of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Crazy Train’, Maroon 5’s ‘She Will Be Loved’, an instrumental-only Billie Jean, Tim McGraw’s ‘Something Like That’ and Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’, performed by his band members. Most notably, Tyler King and Korey Hunt’s renditions of ‘She Will Be Loved’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ left the 90,000-strong audience singing their hearts out, all while Combs willingly and selflessly took a backseat, allowing his backing band to showcase its musicianship on an individual scale.
‘1,2 Many’ saw former England captain John Terry make an unexpected guest appearance that was largely booed and ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ was the perfect tone-setter for an encore of the aforementioned ‘Fast Car’, ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ and ‘Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma’, ending a historic night for Combs on a euphoric high.