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Rain can't stop the unsinkable Luke Bryan and his crowd at Gexa Energy Pavilion

You know who deserves a toast? The thousands of lawn people at Gexa Energy Pavilion on Friday night, that's who. Those lawn people withstood a constant downpour of rain on their heads with their only protection being ponchos, small umbrellas and makeshift tarps, all in the name of some fun with their favorite singer, Luke Bryan.

Bryan, his band and opening acts managed to pull off the first concert of their scheduled two-night stand at Gexa without much weather interruption, save for a short rain delay early in the evening. And it's no shocker that the 39-year-old Georgia headliner still packed the place despite Mother Nature's threats. There's a reason Bryan is the reigning Entertainer of the Year for both the ACM and the CMA awards.

(Rex C. Curry / Special Contributor)

The ballcap wearing country-pop champ was all smiles and boundless energy as he took the stage amid his six-piece band and a swarm of moving lighting rigs. He elicited hearty screams and flying pink panties in his first few moments up there, wriggling his rear and chanting lines from "Kick the Dust Up," a single off the latest LP Kill the Lights.

Bryan, with pretty-boy looks and party-centric hits, has become one of the Mount Rushmore faces of the tailgate-country phenomenon, which continues to thrive despite critical backlash.

The responses to the watered down, Bryan-inspired backroading anthems of openers Dustin Lynch and Randy Houser are proof alone that the "bro" aesthetic is here to stay as long as the people happily lap it up.

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Lynch and Houser both brought bands with them that tried to sound more rock than country, cheesy guitarist posturing and all. Lynch's deep baritone would be better used if he'd forget the trends and go back to the style of his first single "Cowboys and Angels," but he's having too much fun under the gaze of his female fans to change formula right now. Houser's voice is big, booming and soulful, yet his material was equally as hit-or-miss.

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The comforting thing about Bryan -- and we've pointed this out after past tours -- is that his musical catalog contains more than just hip-hop-informed truck jams (even if they've been his bread and butter in recent years). The fiddles of Bryan's earlier hit "All My Friends Say" and a well received cover of Tim McGraw's "Where the Green Grass Grows," gave the folks some twangier moments on Friday.

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Bryan also dares to sing about actual human stories that happen to have the tailgating world as their backdrops. When he stood with a guitar and delivered the mid tempo ballads "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" and "Roller Coaster," we noticed that his softer tunes got the crowd just as riled up as, say, "That's My Kind of Night."

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There was no more appropriate song for Bryan to try on the loyal, wet Gexa crowd than "Rain is a Good Thing." Since the downpour had done no substantial harm up to that point, the lawn people could sing along with a modicum of conviction.

With those attending Saturday night's scheduled show in mind, we won't spoil anything else. Just bring your strongest poncho and let Luke entertain you.

More photos from Friday's show: