ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Normally, music acts in concert are interested in performing their newest music.
That wasn't the case for Brooks & Dunn, the country music Hall of Fame duo who, after retiring in 2010, has reunited for a tour of 20 venues that stopped Friday at Allentown's PPL Center.
In a 19-song, 96-minute set, the pair of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn played just six songs released in the new millennium, and none released in the past 16 years.
But that can be expected from an act that hasn't released an album of new material since 2007, and that became country music's best-selling duo of all time with music before that.
And it turns out, that seemed precisely what the near-sellout crowd at PPL Center wanted.
"Oh hell yes, we're gonna party tonight, sounds like."Kix Brooks to crowd at Allentown's PPL Center
As if to prepare the crowd for a career retrospective, Brooks & Dunn opened with "Brand New Man," the title track No. 1 hit from their 1991 debut album. The song, coincidently, had a second run on the charts in 2019 in a duet with Luke Combs that went platinum.
The song also served notice that the duo, despite having aged — Brooks in now 69 and Dunn 71 — wasn't going to coast through the show. Dunn, under a golf cap and behind aviator glasses, gave a forceful vocal performance.
They tied that tune tight to "My Next Broken Heart," also from "Brand New Man," as were five of the night's songs — more than a quarter of the set.
Backed by a seven-man band, that song recounted the updated traditional country sound that made Brooks & Dunn the hits they were — and made the crowd react as it did.
"Oh hell yes, we're gonna party tonight, sounds like," Brooks told the crowd after that song.
And Brooks, too, showed energy, playing the harmonica and singing with gusto on "Momma Don't Get Dressed Up for Nothing," even doing a slight jump at the end.
Some nice moments
With a few exceptions (more about that later), great vocals never were Brooks & Dunn's trademark, as they showed with "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You" — the first post-millennium song they played as the night's sixth song.
But Dunn held a very long note on the very trad-country "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone."
As with much country from Brooks & Dunn's 1990s heyday, songs about beer, cars and Jesus made hits — and all were mentioned in "Red Dirt Road," with which the crowd sang along loudly.
"We found out you are some bad-ass country music fans. It feels so good up on the stage tonight."Kix Brooks to crowd at Allentown's PPL Center
The duo has a long history with Allentown — it has headlined Allentown Fair's grandstand seven times most recently in 2019 — the second most, behind country band Alabama, with nine.
And Brooks continued that connection with the crowd when he said of Allentown, "We found out you are some bad-ass country music fans. It feels so good up on the stage tonight."
Later, post-millennium offerings included two of the duo's best-selling songs: "Play Something Country" from 2005, a gold hit that would have been hard to ignore, and "Cowgirls Don't Cry," the duo's gold-hit duet with Reba McEntire, whose voice the song missed.
The show's only song that could be deep cut was 2005's "She Likes to Get Out of Town," which the crowd seemed to enjoy.
But it seemed more engaged with the 1992 hit "Neon Moon," which was extended to six minutes to more show off Dunn's singing.
The set included some other nice moments — Brooks starting "Lost and Found" alone on guitar before the band kicked in, and playing an extended solo on a nine-minute version of "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)" later in the set.
And as the penultimate song in the main set, Dunn sang what he said was an impromptu performance of Eddy Arnold's 1956 hit "You Don't Know Me."
Dunn certainly put a lot of effort into it, and the audience let the duo know it appreciated it.
The main set closed with arguably Brook & Dunn's best, "My Maria," which was the top country song of 1996. It got a huge cheer from the crowd.
But it was the one time Dunn's vocals didn't measure up — he seemed to downplay, or even skip, the song's signature high-sung chorus. It still was great, though.
Hotter than the Fourth of July
Perhaps the biggest complaint about the show was that, despite playing 11 No. 1 hits, Brooks & Dunn left nine chart-toppers unplayed.
They included "She Used to Be Mine," "That Ain't No Way to Go" and its second-last No. 1, "It's Getting Better All the Time."
They especially skipped some of their most significant more recent songs: The gold hits "Believe" and Hillbilly Deluxe" from the mid-2000s, and their best seller — and most recent chart appearance — 2019's platinum hit "1, 2 Many," also with Luke Combs.
But they closed the show with three more No. 1 hits.
They opened the encore with an upbeat and rollicking version1995's "Little Miss Honky Tonk," joined by supporting acts David Lee Murphy and Ernest (who wore a Lehigh Valley Phantoms sweatshirt).
Then they brought down the house — or, more precisely, got the whole crowd dancing — with the fan favorite "Boot Scootin' Boogie," with Brooks again on harmonica and easily the night's best.
It's tempting to say it was hotter than the Fourth of July.
Speaking of which, Brooks & Dunn closed with the 2001 No. 1 hit "Only in America," very much appropriate for the coming holiday, with its lyrics about "dreaming in red, white and blue," which caused the crowd to cheer again. It ended with a shot of streamers.
And no one seemed to miss any new music.
Supporting acts Murphy, Ernest
Supporting act Murphy was especially good in a 15-song, 58-minute set, opening with two of his biggest hits — 1995's engaging, far-more-rock "Out With a Bang" and 2004's Top 5 hit "Loco."
"Good One Comin' On" also was very good, as was the emotive "Waylon and Willie (And a Bottle of Jack)."
Most of Murphy's set was him running through top hits he wrote for other artists: Blake Shelton's "The More I Drink," Thompson Square's "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not," Jason Aldean's "The Only Way I Know," and "Pirate Flag" and "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," Kenny Chesney's No. 3 and No. 1 hits, respectively.
The problem with singing songs that other people made hits, even if you wrote them, is that you innately sound inferior, as Murphy did — though he was good.
He closed his set with his own 1996 hit "Party Crowd" — which actually was the first time the crowd stood — and his No. 1, platinum "Dust on the Bottle," which was by far his best.
Opening act Ernest's eight-song, 31-minute set was far less successful. Even with a more traditional sound filled with fiddle, pedal steel guitar and twangy vocals, he failed to impress.
Even his set-closing, double-platinum hit "Flower Shops" was underwhelming. And he strangely skipped his only other hit, the recent platinum "Cowgirls."
