Country super star performs at Farm Tour 2013
Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour 2013 rode through town Friday night, bringing about 16,000 fans to a pasture in Gaston, complete with sundresses, cowboy boots and enough Miller Lite to kill the horses they rode in on.
Bryan and company kept it down-home, drinking moonshine on stage, throwing their beer to fans and riling up Gamecock fans and Clemson fans alike.
“I don’t care if you’re from Clemson, Columbia, or from all over the great state of South Carolina,” Bryan said, “I wanna thank you for letting us come play some country music for y’all.”
The night began at 5 p.m. when the gates opened, but the crowd and the bands were nowhere near settling down at 10:30 p.m. Quilts, blankets and lawn chairs graced the pasture where the stage was set, but closer to the performers it was a sea of hands, faces, cowboy hats and handmade signs. Bryan himself serenaded some lucky sweet sixteen-er, and he even took a few selfies on iPhones of fans in the crowd.
Clad in his signature tight blue jeans, Bryan’s backside never stilled the entire night, twerking,
swinging and waving around, especially during a country-fied mash up of club song favorites, including “I Like Big Butts” and “Get Low.”
Opening the show was recent breakout act Cole Swindell, of “Chillin’ It” fame. Also from Georgia,
Swindell expressed how grateful he was to Bryan for including him in his lineup, and praised the audience for their enthusiasm. Swindell wrote “Just a Sip,” for Bryan and he was just offered a record deal in July with Warner Bros.
Another opening act had many fans, but not many knew it before they started playing. The Peach Pickers, a songwriting trio out of Georgia, have penned many songs for the likes of Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, Justin Moore, Joe Nichols and more. The Peach Pickers have had 40 No. 1 songs, and they came to Columbia to “get our South Carolina buzz on.” They played their songs; most of them top-20 hits on the radio.
The Pickers then brought up Patrick Davis, a Gamecock alumnus, representing his team on his hat to sing his hit, “I’m Just a Big Ole (Game)Cock,” riling up the USC fans and starting the Gamecock cheer.
Although a few fights broke out, overall, the night was a laidback, country success.
This marks the sixth annual Farm Tour, which spans 10 days, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 12 across the southern U.S. from Florida to Alabama. The tour presents scholarships in each of the communities it visits, all to children of farming families.
