Luke Bryan 'kicks the dust up' at Westmoreland County stop on his Farm Tour

A crowd of 18,000 party-seeking country music fans descended on Cunningham Family Farm in South Huntingdon Township on Saturday night. It may seem like an unusual venue from the outside, but for a stop on country music star Luke Bryan’s “Farm Tour,” the sprawling field fit right in.

Bryan’s “Farm Tour” has been a tradition since 2010, bringing him to many rural locales and raising funds for those in need. Since 2015, Bayer has joined Bryan as the presenting sponsor of the “Farm Tour.” As a result of their #HerestotheFarmer campaign, the company has donated almost nine million meals to those in need through Feeding America.

Saturday was this year’s final “Farm Tour” stop, and Bryan — along with openers Tucker Wetmore, The Peach Pickers and Conner Smith, with DJ Rock providing between-sets hype music — brought the festive atmosphere.

It was an all-night party, with Wetmore starting his set at 6 p.m. and Bryan wrapping up as headliner a little after 10:30 p.m.

The assembled crowd spilled into the field with lawn chairs, blankets and refreshments from a number of set-up stands, enjoying the openers’ modern country sounds that ranged from ballads to country rock anthems.

Excitement mounted as darkness fell, and at just before 9 p.m., Bryan took the stage. In jeans and a blue checked shirt — later, a black T-shirt to match his black cap — he was the picture of a country boy getting ready to have a night of fun.

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That’s how the show started, with the raucous “That’s My Kind of Night.” He wandered over the stage, moving to the song’s rhythm as the audience clapped in time.

The second song of the set was the anthemic “Rain is a Good Thing,” but fortunately, it didn’t jinx anything — even with some ominous clouds, no downpours marred the show. As the song ended, he began “Move” with a shout of “We’re gonna make these country girls move tonight!”

Unfortunately, the band’s first attempt to play that song was cut short when a fan in the crowd had a medical emergency. Bryan called “Y’all make sure you’re drinking water out there tonight!” from the stage, and then started the song over again.

Changing things up, the next song kicked into gear with steel drums. After singing one verse of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” Bryan went into his island-infused song “One Margarita.”

The set was a good balance of party tunes and sincere songs, including “Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” from his latest album, “Mind of a Country Boy,” which released just last week.

“You have to forgive me, when I got onstage, Alabama was beating Georgia 28-0,” lamented the Georgia native. “That’s not what I wanted.”

He asked for cheers from Penn State and Pitt fans. “University of Pitt. Dan Marino, right?” From the mix of “woo” and “boo,” it was clear that both fanbases were amply represented.

After “Drunk on You” — a song that would be perfect for a sunset slow dance on a beach — he went into 2014 smash hit “This Is How We Roll,” a song he recorded with fellow country act Florida-Georgia Line. Conner Smith and Tucker Wetmore returned to the stage to help him perform it, really conveying the tune’s friendly message.

“We want to acknowledge the landowners tonight that allowed us to use this farm,” he said, bringing up the Cunningham family and a representative from Bayer to talk about the philanthropic work that the tour does. They received warm, appreciative cheers from the audience.

After that, he brought things down with the dark “Do I,” perhaps the closest that the set list got to country heartbreak, but his voice held up to the task. He followed that up with the heartfelt, more hopeful song “Buy Dirt,” which he recorded with Jordan Davis.

A miniature acoustic set of several songs followed with just Bryan on the guitar, starting with “Most People are Good,” which he dedicated to “all the beautiful mamas out there tonight.”

After starting in the wrong key, he paused to laughs and cheers from the crowd and started over. “Hey, I get one mistake a night, right?” he joked.

He cut the song short after a verse and moved into the upbeat “Crash My Party,” the title track from his 2013 album. Before “Country On,” another offering from his new album, he said, “I got a brand new album out. … I hope you get the chance to go buy it, stream it, whatever the hell you kids do these days. Snapchat it.” He followed “Country On” with a cover of Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” with the stage lights shining down in American flag colors and a confetti drop at the end. Bryan started a “USA!” chant that was enthusiastically picked up by the crowd.

Ending the acoustic set was “Drink a Beer,” a slow song about grief that was bolstered by thousands of cell phone flashlights all over the field.

Despite his discography that dates back to 2007, 30 number-one hits and a seat at the “American Idol” judges’ table, the biggest cheer of the night came when Bryan asked “Where my deer hunters at?”

This is Southwestern Pennsylvania, after all.

Leaving slow songs in the dust, the last leg of the set was all guitar-driven country madness. “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day” even featured a little bit of the famous “Freebird” guitar solo. Bryan wasn’t lyin’ when he said, “We’re going to rock the rest of the night, we’re not playin’ around anymore.”

The high spirits continued with “Kick the Dust Up,” a hard-hitting jam with the appropriately loud singalong line “we turn this cornfield into a party.”

“Play It Again” is a fun summer driving song that Bryan infused with plenty of joy. Even as many concertgoers were looking to the exit, afraid of the potential for traffic backup, they couldn’t resist the pull of its catchy chorus. The penultimate song may have been called “I Don’t Want This Night To End,” but it had to — with the blazing finale of his country charts megahit “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).”

Before bidding farewell, Bryan thanked the attendees and his openers, as well as the first responders who kept everyone safe. Many audience members could still be heard singing the night’s memorable songs as they ventured back out through the gates.