Luke Bryan Slams Critics Over Scathing Concert Reviews

Published Oct 26, 2023 By Jennifer Pernicano

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Luke Bryan took to X – formerly Twitter – to call out a critic who gave his concert a poor review and said he was “embarrassing.”

Country star Luke Bryan performed at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 14th. At every tour stop, there is someone there to review the concert for a newspaper, online publication, or even for their own personal blogs.

This tour stop was no different. Ross Raihala, who writes for the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, was tasked with writing a concert review. Unfortunately for Bryan, the headline was, “Concert review: A distracted, slow-moving Luke Bryan phoned it in at the X“

Raihala’s article is behind a paywall, but don’t worry, we read the entire thing for you.

The writer immediately points out that the crowd at this show was smaller than any show Bryan had put on in the Twin Cities area in almost ten years. It stated that many of the 200 level seats were left unoccupied. Bryan has a deep connection to Minneapolis, as he was the very first music act to perform at the US Bank Stadium in 2016, and has performed at all the other major venues in town including Target Field, and the former TCF Bank Stadium.

Luke Bryan gets a scathing review after Minnesota performance.

Raihala wrote, “The massive stage…often felt empty as Bryan was far less animated and physical than previous shows. At times, he was aimlessly wandering on it, whereas in years past he sprinted across it.”

The review stated that Bryan missed several notes in his song “All My Friends Say,” and for the next few songs, “came across as distracted — listless, even — during the stretch of slower songs that followed.”

Raihala praised Bryan’s cover of “9 to 5” with opener Hailey Whitters, but only did so because of Whitters’ energy that she brought to the stage.

For the final paragraph of Raihala’s review, he said Bryan’s cover of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” was “embarrassing.” He signed off, writing, “It was nice knowing you, Luke.”

Bryan is known for having some crazy antics at his shows, but it seems that strategy didn’t pay off, at least not for Raihala.

RELATED: Luke Bryan’s Mama Dances While He Sings Eagles’ “Take It Easy” At Crash My Playa

Luke Bryan fires back.

Raihala shared his concert review on X, and Bryan saw it.

Bryan’s response was, “Wow. I’ve never received one positive review from y’all’s publication since I’ve been to the twin cities area in my whole career. The trend continues. The sold out crowd had a great time.”

Bryan immediately pointed out that the show was sold out despite Raihala saying the 200 level had many empty seats. In regards to the comment Bryan made about never receiving a positive review from the publication, that is factually incorrect. Raihala has previously given positive concert reviews, and even linked them in his article. Check out his reviews for TCF Bank Stadium, US Bank Stadium, and Target Field.

Luke’s X was didn’t end there.

An online publication, Saving Country Music, reported on Bryan “clapping back” at Raihala and added more of their strong opinions about the singer as well. They think that Bryan should listen to what Rahalia had to say. It seems Bryan didn’t like what he saw in that article either because he responded to the post on X by saying, “You can kiss my ass too.”

He continued, “I have never phoned anything in my life. I’ll keep this shit going as long as y’all want. I sit back watch y’all chirp. Over it. Turn around and watch the crowd.”

Bryan then pointed out that he is 47 years old and “some nights [his] damn knees hurt.”

Bryan posted to X once more before he turned off his phone it seems.

“Another thing. I played from 9:08 til. 11:05. No encore because I ran over the building codes. 10:40 would have been phoning it in. And you right. I did confuse another review from another publication. Check pollstar numbers if you think I’m in decline saving country dude,” he wrote.

What do you think about Bryan’s response to these reviews? Watch his opening number at the concert in question below.