Popular Country Star Claps Back at Negative Review in Minnesota

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He's been to Minnesota numerous times during his career, but this major country star took exception to a review about his most recent concert.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes has been home to a LOT of concerts by a LOT of big names recently. Like, for instance, Taylor Swift. You might have heard about her two shows that packed thousands of Swifities into U.S. Bank Stadium last June.

Or Beyonce, who packed thousands into Huntington Bank Stadium last July. Or Pink, who set a new attendance record at Target Field last August. Or Ed Sheeran, who packed thousands into the U.S. Bank Stadium last August. Or even Morgan Wallen, who's set to play two shows at U.S. Bank Stadium as well, set for June 2024.

READ MORE: This Huge Country Star Is Coming Back to MN in 2024-- But NOT to Perform

And last Saturday, when country star Luke Bryan's County On Tour tour stopped at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Luke has been one of country music's biggest and most visible stars recently. He has appeared as a judge on American Idol for the past five years, he's a five-time Country Music Association (CMA) Entertainer of the Year, he hosted the CMA Awards last year and is set to host it again this year. He's notched 30 number-one songs and his tours have sold millions of tickets.

So it's a little surprising that an artist as big as Luke Bryan would personally respond to a negative concert review in a local newspaper. But that's apparently what just happened here in little 'ol Minnesota.

Ross Raihala is the music critic at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. And his review of Luke's most recent show here in the Gopher State wasn't the most complimentary. Raihala wrote that Luke was 'kind of a mess' and seemed 'distracted, slow-moving,' and that he 'phoned it in at the X.'

That review was posted right after the concert ended, on October 14th. But it apparently made its way down to Nashville, where Luke Bryan's blue-checkmark varified X (formerly Twitter) page posted the following message:

Wow. I've never received one positive review from ya'll's publication since I've been to the Twin Cities area in my whole career. The trend continues. The sold-out crowd had a great time.

That message was posted at 5:36 am on Wednesday, October 17th, and since then, Raihala has responded several times and quoted other more positive reviews he wrote about Bryan's other shows here in Minnesota when he played at U.S. Bank Stadium, TCF Bank (now Huntington Bank) Stadium, and Target Center.

Was Luke being a little too sensitive? Check out the exchange below.

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