FRESNO, Calif (KSEE/KGPE) – The Luke Bryan Farm Tour is moving on after two nights in the Central Valley.
Harlan Ranch in Clovis was packed Friday, as security ushered 20,000 people through 12 security checkpoints.
Fans waited months for Bryan’s farm tour to reach the Central Valley. Once the day came to see him, they said the line wasn’t so bad.
“We farm, we want to see Luke Bryan in concert, we want to have a good time,” fan Chris Niederfrank said.
The fans’ anticipation for the concert was nothing compared to that of local law enforcement agencies, though.
“Between CHP and us, there’s probably 100 cops out here. And we met with the tour folks this morning to go over some last-minute details, but I’m confident that everyone showing up tonight will be safe.,” said Lt. Ryan Gilbert with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Fans said safe is exactly how they felt.
“It’s been super fast once they opened the doors, so it’s not bad at all,” fan Megon Obrist said.
Her praise was a welcome review after the country star’s Atwater concert the night before.
“I’m sad I missed out on Luke Bryan,” fan Teresa Richardson said.
Richardson says she paid nearly $150 to see Bryan at the Thursday concert, and says she was excited for the show until she got there and realized the venue only had two security checkpoints for all 20,000 people.
“It was not like severely warm, but it was pretty warm. We had people fainting and passing out right in front of us. We had we seen two people from Cal Fire attending them, and then they would have to stop attending those people and then run to another person because they were just dropping like flies,” Richardson described.
She says all of that was before the concert even started.
Once the concert did start, she says she could hear Bryan’s voice from outside but didn’t think she would make it inside in time to see him.
“I started to imagine, if this breaks out into a mob and people start pushing each other and hitting each other and trampling each other, this is going to get really ugly really fast. So we decided to leave,” Richardson said.
She says the Atwater Castle Airport venue was not prepared for the crowd.
Friday’s fans sang a different tune, though.
“It’s all been good. We’re here for a good time,” Niederfrank said.
He hopes Bryan will come back one day and “Play it Again.”