Miranda Lambert was one of a handful of surprises Luke Combs had for his fans at Bonnaroo on Thursday night (June 12).
The country set lasted nearly two hours and included a trio of surprise guests.
- Luke Combs was the first-ever country music headliner at Bonnaroo.
- The four-day festival has been happening yearly in Manchester, Tenn. since 2002.
- Tyler, the Creator, Olivia Rodrigo and Hozier are the remaining headliners this year.
Lambert’s introduction came midway through the show. The pair sang “Outrunning Your Memory,” a song they co-wrote with Dan Isbell for the Growin’ Up album (2022). It’s a classic heartbreaker that finds both singers trying to create space from an ex-lover, and failing.
Lambert joins Combs for harmonies for the first verse and chorus before taking lead at the second verse.
The Tennessean shares that Jon Bellion and Marcus King also joined Combs at Bonnaroo, and at one point he let each of his bandmates play a cover song. The rest of the set featured his biggest hits and lookbacks on his career and relationship with wife Nicole.
Combs is technically the first mainstream country headliner, but hardly the first country star to play Bonnaroo, and definitely not the first with a country sound. Jason Isabel, Sturgill Simpson and Kacey Musgraves have been on the bill in the past.
Top 40 hitmakers like Kip Moore, Zac Brown Band and Brothers Osborne have all been support in years past, as well.
Aside from Combs, Jessie Murph (Saturday) is the only artist who has enjoyed country radio success recently, doing so with a duet with Koe Wetzel.
The Bonnaroo show continues what has been a light touring year for Combs. He’s playing very few shows, but many are high profile. Stagecoach and Lollapalooza are two more big fests, and he’ll go to London for a date in September.
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