On the seventh day, the Minnesota State Fair finally said, "Let there be country." And it was good. Not great, but pretty good.
After six nights mostly ruled by rock and pop acts, the fair's grandstand welcomed Florida Georgia Line on Wednesday night as the first of its two country headliners of 2022.
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The good-timey duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley recently confirmed in interviews they will soon go on hiatus to pursue solo careers. Minnesota happened to be their last tour stop.
Hubbard made their pending break sound more permanent Wednesday when he greeted the crowd after the third song, "I Love My Country."
"This is our last official concert as Florida Georgia Line," the Georgia half of the bi-state duo said. "Let's see what we got left in the tank."
News of their hiatus added intrigue, but country concerts at the State Fair don't need any extra buzz to fill the seats.
FGL drew 11,700 ticket-buyers despite falling on a weeknight and competing with a plethora of other big country concerts this summer — including Friday's grandstand return by the Zac Brown Band.
It was easy to see why FGL and their mainstream country peers go over so well at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. Their songs Wednesday were 90% about people having a good time together — especially good times that involve alcohol, pickups, mamas, God or rowdy friends. There's no shortage of those at the fair.
"Jesse's gettin' ready / I'm gassin' up the Chevy," Hubbard sang in "Round Here," which kicked off their set. "I'm gonna pick her up at 6 / I hope she's gonna wear them jeans with the tear that her mama never fixed."
It was also easy to see why Hubbard and Kelley might be eager to try something new.
A decade since their breakout hit "Cruise," FGL's concerts have become as formulaic as their songs. This setlist was nearly the same as last year's We Fest headlining set — except they didn't even make it to the scheduled 90-minute mark, ending 10 minutes short as if in a hurry.
Even most of the stage banter was the same.
"We got some whiskey drinkers in the house?" Hubbard asked for probably the 500th time before "Smooth." As if it was ever a real question.
Fans certainly cheered for the whiskey, though, just as they got excited for the references to Ford and a "cold sixer" in "May We All." They sang along loudly to nearly all of the songs, too, especially "God, Your Mama and Me," "Dirt" and the encore finale "Cruise."
Hubbard and Kelley did break from script a second time later in the show to again suggest it was the end of the road. Unless their high-fives and brotherly smiles to each other were just part of the act, though, it was hard to see their goodbyes as anything more than them putting on another act.
"This is the closing of an incredible chapter, and it's very exciting to look ahead," Hubbard said.
Speaking of that, we can probably go ahead and pencil in Hubbard solo for next year's grandstand.
