Luke Bryan‘s Farm Tour will not be taking place for the first time in over 10 years, the superstar sharing with fans last week that the annual trek has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. “To all my Farm Tour fans out there, I’m sad to announce the 2020 Farm Tour shows will not happen due to COVID-19,” Bryan said in a statement shared on social media.
“We’ve been going strong for the past 11 consecutive years so this one really hurts,” he continued. “We have looked at all kinds of ways to continue with the shows this year but couldn’t come up with a solution to give y’all the full Farm Tour experience while keeping everyone safe. Until next year! Love y’all.” “Absolutely breaks my heart for all,” Bryan’s mom, LeClaire, commented. “My fun time for years. Everyone stay safe and well. Prayers to all.”
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Bryan, who grew up on a peanut farm in Georgia, started his Farm Tour in 2009 to bring his shows to rural areas that don’t normally see large concerts. “The idea behind this tour is to bring full production concerts to small towns that would not see larger scale shows,” he previously said in a statement. “Growing up in rural Georgia we had to drive to larger cities to see concerts. It is so exciting to watch each of these shows being built like a small city in itself in the empty pasture land of these farms. We can feel the pride from the people in these towns as well as the farmers and it takes everyone coming together to pull them off!!”
Proceeds from the tour go to providing scholarships for students from farming families and the tour has so far given away over 60 scholarships. At each stop, Bryan performs on a stage set up in a harvest field, and he told Midwest Living that he and his team work closely with each family to pull off the performances. “We spend a lot of time with the family to ensure we are communicating what it will take to pull off a great show,” he explained. “It is like erecting a city – and our goal is to leave the farm as we found it, if not better.”
“Farm Tour is just a different kind of show all the way around,” he added. “We are setting down a small city on these farms, and our team just has a different level of excitement. The energy level for me goes up as I hit the stage and I can see how we have transformed the pasture land into a full-fledged music festival.”
Along with canceling his Farm Tour, Bryan also had to reschedule his Proud to Be Right Here Tour due to the coronavirus, pushing the planned trek to 2021. While he won’t be on the road this year, the American Idol judge is scheduled to release his upcoming album, Born Here, Live Here, Die Here, on Aug. 7.
