CONCERT
Luke Combs
Accor Stadium, January 31
Reviewed by MILLIE MUROI
★★★½
Not even a “shoey” mid-song could arrest Luke Combs’ powerful voice on Friday.
“There’s no stopping me,” he sung in bop 1, 2 Many after tipping back a boot of beer.
Australia wasn’t on the radar when Combs dropped out of college to chase his country music dream a decade ago. But now, the North Carolina native said, “No one listens to my music as much as they do here.”
Luke Combs at Accor Stadium.Credit: Venues NSW/Gregg Porteous
The former bar bouncer, bathed in golden light as he strolled across the stage, had a subdued start, crooning songs such as The Kind of Love We Make (2022) and Forever After All (2020).
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While an earlier change of pace may have helped infuse more energy and variation into the performance, Combs’ swaggering yet comfortable stage presence, strong gravelly voice, and candidness made for easy listening.
Stand-outs in his set included heartstring-pullers One Number Away (2018), where an ending run showed off his immaculate vocal control; Beautiful, Crazy from his debut album, which prompted a marriage proposal in the mosh pit; and Must Have Never Met You (2017), also from his earliest album, where his masterful belting took centre stage.
Even so, there were often times when the instrumentals nearly drowned out Combs’ vocals in the open-air venue.
