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VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia — It had been nearly 14 years to the day since the last time country music Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn performed in Virginia Beach until the duo returned to Virginia Home Loans Amphitheater on Friday as part of the Reboot 2024 tour. The group was met with a crowd who appeared to have been preparing for weeks for this night to arrive and they were not disappointed. 

“So good to see y’all back in this place,” Kix Brooks told the audience. “I don’t know what took us so long to get back here, but we will not make that mistake again.”

The duo treated fans to an hour and a half of hit songs that kept the near-sell-out crowd on their feet. The duo closed the encore with a fitting, patriotic ending befitting a region heavily populated by United States servicemen and women with “Only in America,” complete with four servicemembers walking to the front of the stage and saluting the crowd. As the chorus finished, red, white and blue streamers were shot from the rafters, signaling the end of a fantastic show. 

The energy and excitement had been building from the parking lot, where many fans sat on tailgates, gathered in chairs, blaring songs they hoped to hear the famed duo perform live in a matter of hours.

The show opened with singer-songwriter ERNEST, who, near the end of his set, rolled into a song he and current music superstar Jellyroll recorded called “I Went to College, He Went to Jail.” Ironically, ERNEST and Jellyroll have known each other since 2010, and as he told the growing crowd, the two took completely different paths to country music. ERNEST went to college, and, well, Jellyroll went to jail. Since Jellyroll was not there to sing his part of the chorus, ERNEST enlisted the help of the crowd. This proved to be a trial run for a night filled with sing-alongs and led to a performance by hit singer-songwriter David Lee Murphy that had the packed crowd singing along at the top of their lungs. The amphitheater went wild as Murphy hit the first few notes of the song he wrote for Jason Aldean, “Big Green Tractor.”

Murphy wrapped up his hour-long set with his number-one hit, “Dust on the Bottle,” which prepared the crowd for the energy they were minutes away from experiencing.

Backed by a seven-piece band, the country megastars appropriately kicked off their set with a thunderous rendition of “Brand New Man,” the duo’s debut hit single.

Brooks teased the crowd a bit, asking if they should play songs like “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” or “Neon Moon” before saying they would dive deeper into the duo’s catalog.

Both Brooks & Dunn crooned through songs like “Momma Don’t Get Dressed Up For Nothing,” “We’ll Burn That Bridge,” and “Aint Nothin ‘Bout You” just like it was the 90s all over again, hitting notes even Brooks wasn’t sure he could still hit, but he nailed most of them, including one in the middle of “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone,” that brought a thunderous roar from the crowd.

Shortly after, the crowd ramped up their participation, singing along to every word of “Red Dirt Road,” Brooks said was his favorite song the duo had ever written.

About midway into the set, the group powered up the intensity with “Lost and Found,” “Hard Workin Man,” and “Play Something Country” before leading into a story from Dunn about needing to write “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” to pay for horses he bought his daughter to keep her mind off boys.

As they moved through the set, the house lights went down, cellphone lights came on, and couples began dancing in the pit area to the highly anticipated “Neon Moon.” As the song neared its end, Dunn paused and said he had been battling a sore throat — the Virginia Beach was show number 14 of 20 — before cranking out a near flawless final verse complete with a bit of vibrato that brought thunderous applause that was felt from the lawn to the front of the house.

Dunn, now 71, again showed his vocals can still hold up on the main set closing song, “My Maria.”

After a  few minutes to gather themselves off stage, the group came back to give the audience the encore they deserved. Bringing ERNEST and Murphy back out to help out with a version of “Little Miss Honky Tonk” before giving the crowd the other song they had been waiting for, the line-dancing anthem and crossover hit, “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.’

Country music’s best-selling duo of all time continues the Reboot Tour on Saturday night in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

Brooks & Dunn setlist:

Brand New Man 

My Next Broken Heart 

Momma Don’t Get Dressed Up For Nothing

We’ll Burn That Bridge

You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone 

Aint Nothin ‘Bout You 

Red Dirt Road 

Lost and Found

Hard Workin Man

Play Something Country

Cowgirls Don’t Cry

She Likes To Get Out Of Town

Neon Moon 

Rock My World (Little Country Girl) (Two-minute Harmonica solo)

My Maria 

 

ENCORE

Little Miss Honky Tonk  with ERNEST and David Lee Murphy 

Boot Scootin’ Boogie

Only in America

David Lee Murphy setlist:

Good One Comin’ On
(Blackberry Smoke cover)

The More I Drink
(Blake Shelton cover)

Big Green Tractor
(Jason Aldean cover)

Waylon and Willie (and a Bottle of Jack)

Here and Now
(Kenny Chesney cover)

Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

Party Crowd

Dust on the Bottle

Hurricane
(Parker McCollum cover)