Concert Review: Dustin Lynch visits Ames

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By Parker Reed

Dustin Lynch performs at the Jeff and Deb Hansen Agricultural Student Learning Center.

Parker Reed

Dustin Lynch led an all-out country music party Tuesday night at the Hansen Agricultural Student Learning Center.

Up and coming Californian country artist Brett Young took the stage at 8 p.m. with a peculiar band setup. Young played acoustic guitar and was accompanied by an electric guitarist and a drummer that used brushes on one song, but he played his drums by hand for the rest of the set.

Young’s set was very low-key and laid back with only a few songs going faster than mid-tempo. While this led to an eventually repetitive set, there were highlights throughout.

“I don’t know why holiday season is also breakup season. Maybe the guys just don’t want to buy the gifts,” Young said introducing his song “You Ain’t Here to Kiss Me.”

“Beautiful Believer” was unfortunately plagued by some audio issues, which sent loud, harsh noises into the crowd, but Young pushed though acknowledging the crowd, “Ya’ll doing good?”

High points included the bluesy “Smoke Show” and the Californian’s version of a dirt road song, “Freeway.”

Dustin Lynch took the stage after a strange intro, featuring an empty stage with dance music and strobe lights.

Lynch started the set strong with the triumphant “To the Sky” and upbeat single “She Cranks My Tractor.”

“We’re here to celebrate being free in the United States of America. And I’m here to celebrate beer season being back,” Lynch said.

After his 2014 track “All Night” Lynch began a cover medley of ’90s country tunes, including Joe Diffie’s “John Deere Green,” Diamond Rio’s “Meet in the Middle,” and Brooks and Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.”

His 2012 single “Wild in Your Smile” brought the set back into more recent songs and was followed by “Sing it to Me” and “Name On It.”

“I wrote this song a couple of years ago when a girl put me in the friend zone,” Lynch said, introducing “Middle of Nowhere.”

Other highlights included “Hurricane,” which proved to be one of Lynch’s best live songs, showcasing a tight band with interesting songwriting and fan favorite “Cowboys and Angels” which had the entire crowd singing along.

Another medley came towards the end of the set, featuring pop songs. Justin Timberlake’s “Dance With Me,” Trey Songz’s “Say Ahh” and Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” were all given the cover treatment.

The main set came to a close with a cover of Garth Brooks’ “Rodeo” and Lynch’s 2014 single “Where It’s At (Yep, Yep).”

A brief break was taken before coming back out and performing another 2014 single “Hell of a Night” and closing out the show.

Dustin Lynch commanded the stage Tuesday night with great showmanship and was sure to please any country music fan in attendance.