Luke Combs’s packed Wembley show proves the UK is embracing country

Rob FitzpatrickSat, August 1, 2026 at 12:20 PM UTC

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The country star played the first of three shows at Wembley Stadium on Friday night - David Bergman

At the first of Luke Combs’s three nights at Wembley Stadium on Friday, that creaky old canard “overwhelming ticket demand” had been wheeled out, but one only needs to observe the many thousands dressed in trucker hats, boots and cap-sleeve shirts to accept that, this time at least, it appeared to be true.

Being a country music star means that most people not inside the venue will never have heard of him, but Combs’s appeal is clear. The 36-year-old neatly sidesteps the twin ditches of fake humility or imposing self-aggrandisement and instead ploughs an open-hearted furrow right down the middle of the easy-going, country-rocking road.

Combs arrives on stage to Sweet Caroline and the crowd explodes into song – Wonderwall be damned, clearly – and he’s barely begun his opening number, My Kinda Saturday Night, before the first pyro pops off. There’s a Stones-like swagger to Lovin’ on You, and the huge chorus – something of a theme tonight – has the crowd on their feet right to the back of the stadium.

“It’s big in here, man. Big!” he cries, before unfurling Hurricane’s lovelorn, alt-rock grind. Where the Wild Things Are enjoys a fruity, late-Seventies Springsteen-style swing, while the long digression about his first visit to Texas ahead of Houston, We Got a Problem sets us up for a song where “the biggest sky you’ve ever seen” and “the coldest beer you’d ever drink” happily co-exist.

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There isn’t one cliché that Combs won’t grasp lovingly to his heart; he even brings on former England footballer John Terry to “shotgun” a can of beer. But it all works because his great gift is taking the most hackneyed concepts imaginable and turning them into something striking. You could turn over more new ground with a doll’s teaspoon than Combs managed tonight, but you warm to him all the same.

Former footballer John Terry joined Luke Combs on stage to ‘shotgun a beer - David Bergman

At heart, Combs is as close to Ed Sheeran – whose Dive he performs tonight – or Coldplay’s stateless superpop-rock as he is to, say, Johnny Cash. With his broad-brush, anthemic songwriting, misshapen clods of personal dirt are artfully polished into public diamonds. So while the mid-set lags and another long, slightly aimless story sludges things up further, there’s no denying titanium-grade wedding-song material like Forever After All.

“I’d be happy playing these songs to two people in a bar,” Combs drawls before Doin’ This, and you don’t doubt him for a minute. But one look at the crowd tells you that won’t be happening any time soon.

Luke Combs is at Wembley Stadium until Aug 2; tickets

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”