On February 16, 2018 Luke Bryan kicked off the first leg of his What Makes You Country Tour in Springfield, Missouri. Unfortunately, the beginning of the tour is very bittersweet for Bryan and his tour family.
WHAT MAKES YOU COUNTRY TOUR pic.twitter.com/YH7ng3gXkb
— Lukebryan001 (@Lukebryan0013) April 13, 2019
Just a few days before the tour kicked off, Marcus Wade, an important member of Bryan’s crew, passed away after being involved in a motorcycle accident. According to Rare Country, Wade was a longtime crew member of Bryan’s, working on several of his tours including the That’s My Kinda Night Tour, the Kill the Lights Tour and his Farm Tour. He also has been a crew member for Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Keith Urban, and Justin Bieber.
In a way to honor his longtime crew member, Bryan dedicated his performance of his emotional song “Drink A Beer” to him. In the middle of the song, Bryan stopped singing and turned around to call attention to a picture of Wade on the screen behind him. Bryan held up with beer to toast to Wade, and continued singing the somber song.
You could tell that the two men had a close, playful relationship with one another because underneath Wade’s photo and his birth and death days read, “Luke Bryan body double.” Just a glimpse at a photo of Wade, you know that he looks nothing like the country star, but clearly, they had a similar sense of humor!
Wade is survived by his wife, Lori, and on behalf of her and the rest of their family, a friend set up a GoFundMe account to help her with the cost of a celebration of life for her husband. The GoFundMe raised almost $20,000 for the grieving widow.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Lori, their family, Luke and the rest of the crew who worked closely with Marcus. Watch Luke’s emotional tribute to Marcus below.