Luke Bryan proves why he's country music's Mr. Congeniality during a fun Friday night out at Resch Center

ASHWAUBENON - If absence really does make the heart grow fonder, no wonder Luke Bryan was such a good time on Friday night.

Or, hold on a minute, is Bryan ever not a good time, whether it's having one or providing one or, his specialty, both?

It had been a decade since the the fun-loving, five-time Entertainer of the Year last brought his megawatt smile and hip swiveling to the Resch Center. In a mid-sized country music market as mighty as Green Bay, that’s a long time between crashing parties and rattling off the finer points of why rain is a good thing.

But judging by the reception of the sold-out crowd from top to bottom of his nearly two-hour show, the welcome back would’ve been just as electric if he had just been in town the weekend before.

“It’s been too long since we’ve been in Green Bay, been too long,” Bryan told the crowd. “When I stepped off the bus and the cold wind hit my nipples, I knew where I was.”

He was originally supposed to play the Resch Center in September 2020 for his Proud to Be Right Here Tour, but the pandemic took care of that. Instead, fans got the Country On Tour, and it was worth the wait.

There’s something irrepressibly likable about Bryan beyond his 30 No. 1 songs — yep, 30 in 15 years. Maybe it is that smile or the corny sense of humor that makes him break out in laughter every time he shakes his booty or that his happy meter always seems to be idling at 10.

He's undeniably country music's Mr. Congeniality. When he belts out “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day,” that last part feels like a personal declaration of his approach to life, and it’s as infectious on an arena stage as it is at the judges' table on “American Idol.”

At 47, he's all “fun uncle” swagger without any of the bro country bluster. Who else but someone as good-natured as Bryan would voluntarily bring up an incident from the week before when he stopped his show in Orlando, Florida, after a fan pointed out he wasn’t zipped up? As you might guess, it went viral.

“Last week, my zipper went down. Y’all see my zipper go down? Oh, it was big news,” he said at the Resch, before showing off a sign in the audience and having a laugh. “Make sure your barn door is closed,” it read.

He also told the crowd he had been to Hinterland Brewery and Restaurant in the nearby Titletown District earlier in the day and overindulged, right down to the fried Brussels sprouts.

“I drank a bunch of beer. I ate a bunch of (expletive) cheese. And then I went home and passed out and took a nap,” he said, joking that he would need to hold his stomach in the rest of the show.

What Kenny Chesney is to capturing island life, Bryan is to rural life. The video screen and four columns behind him were filled with images of farms, lakes, woods, tractors, horses and country roads for much of the night. From “Kick the Dust Up” to open the show to “What Makes You Country” to the buoyant anthem “Country On,” with big cheers from the crowd for tributes to firefighters, soldiers and the “boys and girls in blue,” they were all within the familiar Bryan territory of tailgates, sweet tea, cornfields, hometowns and catfish dinners.

The happy-go-lucky vibe of “All My Friends Say” had him tossing cans of beer into the crowd, while “Drink a Beer,” about the loss of a loved one, made for a poignant sing-along. He got a little frisky on "Strip It Down" and "Drunk on You," the latter with the "girl, you make my speakers go boom boom" lyrics that don't get any less cringeworthy with time.

He brought out his support acts mid-show for a stripped-down segment with his six-piece band joining him out on the catwalk of the stage. Conner Smith and Season 19 “American Idol” champ Chayce Beckham filled in for Jordan Davis (who just played the Resch last month) on “Buy Dirt." Hailey Whitters, the Iowa native who did a charming 35-minute opening set, teamed up with him to put the spunk in the Dolly Parton classic “9 to 5.”

From there on, it was a half-hour sprint to the end. Bryan launched into Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” and never looked back, rocking the house with "One Margarita," complete with a jumbo sloshing margarita he handed off to fans near the stage, and the old-school banjo and fiddle foot-stompin' on "Rain Is a Good Thing," one of his earliest hits and still a crowd favorite. "That's My Kind of Night" ended the evening, but "Shake It For Me" was the the most unhinged moment of the party.

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Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Luke Bryan was a good time on his Country On Tour stop at Resch Center