August 24, 2018

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Jason Aldean brought his High Noon Neon Tour to a sold-out Blossom Music Center last night.  

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Blasting through the top of the stage, Aldean and his great five-piece backing band kicked off the show with "Gittin' Warmed Up."  Indeed, they were just getting warmed up as they proceeded to stay on stage for the next hour and forty-five minutes, tearing through twenty-four songs.

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Aldean even told the audience "I don't do a lot of talking.  I figured you came to hear me sing."  He said that they were going to play some new songs, some songs "from 2005" and some songs from the six albums in between.

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True to his word, Aldean and company played at least one song from his eight studio albums including "Night Train," "A Little More Summertime," "Amarillo Sky" and "Tattoos On This Town."

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Throughout the show, Jason would pace between the three microphone stands that were spread across the stage.  This allowed him to play his acoustic guitar and sing without being confined to one place.

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Before playing  "Drowns In Whisky," Aldean and the band wanted to thank the audience for making that song number one on the charts.  The best way to celebrate was to "do a shot of whisky with y'all."  With that, each band member drank a shot from their red Solo cups and continued to party.

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Towards the end of the show, Aldean said that "Encores suck!  How about we play everything we got and the show's over when it's over!"  The very enthusiastic, and perhaps somewhat drunk, audience cheered along.

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The band finished up with "Burnin' It Down" and "Crazy Town."

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Relative newcomer Luke Combs was the second act on the bill.  I can honestly say that he won't be an opener for too much longer.  His songs, his singing ability and his good-natured, country-boy charm will soon put his name on top of the marquee.

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Quite frankly, Luke Combs stole the show!

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From the opening chords of "Beer Never Broke My Heart," Combs had the audience in the palm of his hand.

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It's quite obvious that this isn't "bro-country."  The husky native from North Carolina writes and sings songs with that old-school country vibe.

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"Beer Can," "When It Rains It Pours" and a nice mash up of The Eagles' "Take It Easy," Toby Keith's "Should Have Been A Cowboy" and Alan Jackson's "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" had the packed house singing along.

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Heck, most of audience was singing along to all of the songs.  

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Combs thanked the crowd for coming early to hear his set and said "It's my job to play for you.  You guys have jobs and you're here to have fun.  So have as much fun as you want!"

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He ended the show with what he called "the song that changed my life," which was his first single "Hurricane."

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Lauren Alaina opened the show with "Georgia Peaches," which segued into the odd pairing of "Paradise City."  However, she and her band made it work.

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"Next Boyfriend," "What If's" and "Road Less Traveled" closed this brief five song set.

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Alaina has a great personality and is having fun on stage.  She does a great job of warming up the crowd.

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As an added bonus, Aldean's long-time friend, DeeJay Silver kept the party rockin' between acts.  He played a variety of music and mixes that kept people dancing while the crew changed sets.

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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