Written by John Faussemagne
Photography by Alain Cruz
Full Photo Album from the night can be found here.
On April 25th, live music came to Sanford stadium for the first time in 13 years. Country music superstars Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan were joined by Zach Top and Lauren Alaina for what was setting up to be an unforgettable night in Athens.
Fans started waiting outside the gates hours prior to the show for a chance to get the ever elusive barricade spot with the best view in the house. As the crowd trickled in, DJ Rock graced the stage playing country hits to get the crowd excited.
Lauren Alaina started the night off with a bang, bringing her charismatic personality to the forefront. Being the opening act for a concert that is sure to run 5+ hours is no easy task, but Alaina brought an early energy to Sanford that helped set the mood. She helped bring the crowd into the show conversing with fans during her set and cracking jokes between songs. Despite being the first name on the bill, Alaina had fans singing along and having a good time.
Close to the end of her set, Alaina dialed the energy back to thank everyone for the opportunity, and give a heartfelt tribute to her late father who passed away in July of 2024. She performed “Little Things” in his honor, highlighting how the small stuff ceases to matter after loss, and talk about the song’s importance to her.
After the somber tribute, she followed with “Ladies in the ‘90s,” a danceable hit, which she intertwined with Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” This medley brought the crowd out of their seats to dance alongside the singer who put on a masterful performance.
Alaina was followed by Zach Top who showed off his finger picking capabilities on the acoustic guitar from song one. Top performed a cover of “Two Dozen Roses” by Shenandoah, and crowd members reacted in kind by slow dancing to the country classic. He was joined alongside an incredible band including a pianist, slide guitarist, and fiddler who helped add wonderful layering to every track. Top performed “Bad Luck” as the sun was setting behind the stage making for an unforgettable visual and auditory experience.
After the sun went down, crowdmembers started waving their flashlights lighting up Sanford. Top finished the set by doing dueling guitars alongside his bandmate. He shredded an acoustic guitar solo, while his bandmate followed in turn with his own electric solo. This back and forth of acoustic and electric brought the crowd once again to their feet as Top’s set came to a close.
Alaina and Top were incredible openers who not only set the stage for the headliners, but put on wonderful performances of their own, showing off their talents to the Athens crowd. As 9 o’clock approached, Ray Charles’s “Georgia On My Mind” started playing and the chatter of the crowd turned to an uproar of cheers as a video introducing Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan played from the big screen. The two used the video to announce that this set would be unlike any other they had ever performed, as they would be performing together. This announcement was met with even bigger cheers, and a barrage of barks from the hometown crowd. The two superstars came out together and spoke about their excitement for the night before jumping right into the music.
The two started the night together covering Brantley Gilbert’s “My Kinda Party” and singing together for Luke Bryan’s hit “That’s My Kind of Night.”
The two played beautifully alongside each other before splitting off and giving one another time to play their own hits. The show found a good pace from here allowing whoever is not playing time to rest backstage. Despite not being onstage together for the whole show, they did find time to banter and build off each other’s sets. Bryan created an island atmosphere playing his hit “One Margarita” and giving away the titular drink to an audience member, before Aldean came out to play “Whiskey Town.” Bryan often brings out more of a party in his music, while Aldean relates more to the sensibilities of a barroom whiskey drinker, which allowed the two to play off each other well.
Before long, the two were together onstage again to show off a new cut from Aldean’s album featuring Bryan which dropped a day prior. Despite only being a day old, many fans already had the lyrics of the duet memorized. They followed aptly with “Drink a Beer,” and fans began to light up the stadium with their flashlights creating a highlight from the night. From there the two continued switching on and off playing more of their own hits.
As the night came to a close, the two appeared onstage together and brought out UGA football coach Kirby Smart who requested the song “She’s Country,” one of Aldean’s biggest hits. Five hours into the show, the crowd was still lively as ever in a sold-out Sanford stadium. Aldean and Bryan finished with “Country Girl” by Luke Bryan as the crowd sang along to every word, before the two said goodnight.
The annual concert series was a major success in its first year showing that Sanford Stadium can bring people from all parts of Georgia together for one night.
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