{"id":13213,"date":"2019-11-21T10:45:24","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T16:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=13213"},"modified":"2023-09-03T20:18:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T20:18:48","slug":"live-review-atlanta-gas-atlive-welcomes-eric-church-luke-combs-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=13213","title":{"rendered":"Live Review – Atlanta, GA\u2019s ATLive welcomes Eric Church, Luke Combs and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joshua Wallace<\/strong>
\nPhotography By Joshua Wallace<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This past Sunday November 17th, 2019, I had the opportunity to see Eric Church, Luke Combs, Brothers Osborne and Caylee Hammack live at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.  This was the second night of the ATLive concert series promoted in Atlanta by Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s AMB Sports and Entertainment. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, this night was a sell out with 52,414 fans.  This was one of the biggest crowds I have ever been a part of for a music concert and it was an amazing night of good country music.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Caylee Hammack opened the night.  She was probably the most pop oriented singer of the evening.  She didn\u2019t get a very long set and maybe did 5 songs. She did originals like \u201cPreciatecha\u201d and \u201cFamily Tree\u201d.  She also did covers of Gloria Gaynor\u2019s \u201cI Will Survive\u201d and Tom Petty\u2019s \u201cMary Jane\u2019s Last Dance\u201d. I came out of her set feeling sort of indifferent to her music as she did some good covers, but her originals didn\u2019t really grab me.  I was however, pumped for the rest of the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Brothers Osborne mentioned that this was their last show of the year and they couldn\u2019t have picked a bigger crowd to do it in front of.  The band kicked off their set with \u201cDrank Like Hank\u201d which is one of my favorites off their last studio album. They rely heavily on long jams during their set and John Osborne is one hell of a lead guitar player in that respect.  The longer jams help space out their more pop leaning songs through their set. During the nearly hour long set, they got to songs like \u201cShoot Me Straight\u201d, \u201cI Don\u2019t Remember Me (Before You)\u201d, \u201cBurning Man\u201d and wrapped it up with \u201cIt Ain\u2019t My Fault\u201d.  This last song was a killer jam that I feel like lasted at least past the 15 minute mark. There was an epic keyboard solo followed by John\u2019s longest solo of the night. This song is one of those epic closing songs that will make anyone a fan that sees this live, even if you were on the fence throughout the rest of the set.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Luke Combs was the first double headliner for the night.  He played an hour and fifteen minute set full of hits and songs from his new record that are sure to be hits in the future.  This wasn\u2019t a full set you would get at one of his own concerts, but I feel like we only missed a small portion of his usual set.  He came across very humble on stage and very real. The band kicked the night off with one of my favorite tracks from his first album titled \u201cHonky Tonk Highway\u201d.  He then immediately went into the hits with one of his biggest in \u201cWhen It Rains It Pours\u201d and you could hear the entire stadium singing along. In fact, it was like this the whole set for Luke Combs.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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Some highlights included the hit song \u201c1, 2, Many\u201d where after the line \u201cSo whatcha say we shotgun one?\u201d he actually paused for a bit to shotgun a beer before going back to the song.  He performed \u201cThis One\u2019s For You\u201d largely acoustic before the band came back out to finish the song with him. He did one of my favorite tracks off the new record titled \u201cAngels Workin\u2019 Overtime\u201d and I\u2019m sure that one will be a hit at radio.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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Speaking of radio hits, Luke Combs announced that \u201cEven Though I\u2019m Leaving\u201d is his 7th straight number 1 at country music radio.  That is an amazing run for any singer, let alone someone who is only on his second full album. He closed the set out with a Brooks and Dunn cover of \u201cBrand New Man\u201d and \u201cBeer Never Broke My Heart\u201d.  Before playing his final song, he announced that due to a bet with his keyboard player who was from Atlanta, he had to wear an Atlanta Falcons jersey for the final song of the night. Atlanta played his time the Carolina Panthers and beat them soundly earlier that day.  This was the first time I had ever seen Luke Combs live and this set only made me a bigger fan. I can\u2019t wait to see him again but hopefully more up close next time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The final act of the night was Eric Church.  I had seen him perform previously on the \u201cHoldin\u2019 My Own\u201d tour in 2017 where he performed two sets in one night so I knew we were in for a long evening still.  He kicked the night off at the front of the stage on acoustic guitar doing a rendition of \u201cDrowning Man\u201d from his latest record Desperate Man. Eric Church\u2019s live band brings a heavier rock and roll sound to the proceedings so it\u2019s no surprise that he does things like add a tease of Black Sabbath\u2019s \u201cSweet Leaf\u201d to the end of \u201cSmoke a Little Smoke\u201d.  He also did an exceptional version of \u201cCreepin\u2019\u201d from his The Chief album with his lead guitar player Jeff Hyde handling the dobro for the song. Before he got to one of his older hits \u201cHow Bout\u2019 You\u201d, he discussed playing a smaller venue in Atlanta called Wild Bills and how crazy it was to be at a sold out Mercedes Benz Stadium on this evening. Also, during \u201cHow Bout You\u201d he did a full cover of Waylon\u2019s \u201cAre You Sure Hank Done It This Way\u201d and a tease of Ram Jam\u2019s \u201cBlack Betty\u201d before closing out \u201cHow Bout You\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

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He performed one of my favorite songs called \u201cMr. Misunderstood\u201d largely acoustic before the band joined him again halfway through the song.  It is my strong opinion that Eric Church is at his best in a more intimate acoustic setting. Following that, he kicked off a series of a few of my favorite songs of his.  He did a great tease of an \u201cI’m So Lonesome I Could Cry\u201d cover. Then he went into a string of songs that included \u201cCold One\u201d, \u201cRecord Year\u201d and \u201cRound Here Buzz\u201d. He did a spot during \u201cRecord Year\u201d where he signed vinyl records that fans had around the stage.  He held up each one to the camera, including a vinyl record of Bruce Springsteen\u2019s famous Born In The U.S.A. album which he signed. Before \u201cHomeboy\u201d, one of his guitar players came up front and did an awesome metal interlude with the band that was the heaviest bit of music of the night.  The set also heavily featured the vocal talents of his back-up singer Joanna Cotten. She was featured on the track \u201cMixed Drinks About Feelings\u201d which features Susan Tedeschi doing a verse on the album cut. We got an amazing dueling guitar solo during the closing moments of a rousing rendition of \u201cPledge Allegiance To The Hag\u201d that was awesome.  He closed out the night with \u201cThese Boots\u201d where he signed a bunch of boots around the stage and one of his most popular songs in \u201cSpringsteen\u201d which he says is his ode to a moment and the influence music can have on that moment and the power of a song to take you back to a specific moment in time. I know many people who were at this show will go back to this particular moment in time when they hear any of these songs that were played this night.  He came back out for a one song encore of the Jackson Brown song \u201cThe Load-Out\u201d which is a perfect encore song for any band.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This was an amazing night of performances and while no one got to do a full set, it was a full night of great music.  Eric Church and Luke Combs were of course the highlights, but Brothers Osborne was awesome as well. I didn\u2019t really get a chance to hear much of Caylee Hammack with her short set.  Overall, this was a great night and I can\u2019t wait to hear many of these artists again. You can find out a full tour itinerary for all of the artists involved in this show on their respective websites.<\/span><\/p>\n

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By Joshua Wallace Photography By Joshua Wallace This past Sunday November 17th, 2019, I had the opportunity to see Eric Church, Luke Combs, Brothers Osborne and Caylee Hammack live at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.  This was the second night of the ATLive concert series promoted in Atlanta by Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[57,58,147,175,327,540,618,642],"class_list":["post-13213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-atlanta","tag-atlive","tag-brothers-osborne","tag-caylee-hammack","tag-eric-church","tag-joshua-wallace","tag-live-review","tag-luke-combs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t