PANAMA CITY BEACH — It’s the end of an era.
Country music star and Spring Break icon Luke Bryan, now 38 years old, announced in January that his free shows March 11 and 12 at Spinnaker Beach Club will be his last as part of Spring Break.
He’s touting them as his “final Spring Break concert,” which will in turn promote his “final” Spring Break record: “Spring Break ... Checkin’ Out,” which will be available for purchase March 10.
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“We’ve had such an amazing run down there — it has been something I look forward to year after year,” Bryan said in a statement to media outlets. “Last year was just amazingly over the top, and we feel like it will be that way this year.”
Just as he is in Panama City Beach, Bryan is playing two nights in 13 cities this spring, including Washington, D.C.; St. Louis, Mo.; West Palm Beach, and more.
“The ability to go into a city and stay two nights is something I could have only ever dreamed of,” Bryan told TheBoot.com. “To be able to roll your world, your tour bus, in and set up a fun little backstage area — it’s amazing we’re in this spot. I can’t thank (the) fans enough.”
Bryan’s appearances on Panama City Beach for Spring Break have become annual events, and have helped to shape his image as “the King of Spring Break.” Each year, he has released a new EP of Spring Break-focused songs that have been true crowd-pleasers and best-sellers. His six previous Spring Break EPs have combined sales of 1.1 million to date, according to TasteOfCountry.com.
“My fans have been so wonderful to embrace these special Spring Break albums over the last seven years,” Bryan said in a press release. “We’ve created a lot of amazing memories writing these songs and performing them at the beach shows in Florida. Those concerts are among the most enjoyable of my career.”
Currently on pre-order at Amazon.com, “Spring Break … Checkin’ Out” will be available on digital platforms as well as physical CDs, and will include five new tracks along with the six songs from 2014’s “Spring Break” EP. The track list includes: “My Ol’ Bronco,” “Games,” “She Get Me High,” “Spring Breakdown,” “Good Lookin’ Girl,” “Checkin’ Out,” “You and the Beach,” “Night One,” “Like We Ain’t Ever,” “The Sand I Brought to the Beach,” and “Are You Leaving With Him.”
In addition, Walmart will have an exclusive omnibus edition of all of Bryan’s Spring Break releases: “Spring Break … The Set List: The Complete Spring Break Collection” is a two-disc set (including all 25 of his previous Spring Break EP songs and the five new songs), with a 48-page magazine with interviews and photos from each of the previous Spring Break events.
Hailing from Leesburg, Ga., Bryan started his musical career in the mid-2000s, writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington. He got his first No. 1 singles in 2011 — “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” “Drunk on You,” and “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” — with his third album, “Tailgates & Tanlines.”
But that came after he started to make his name at Spring Break in Panama City Beach. His 2009 EP, “Spring Break With All My Friends,” started the beachball rolling with the songs “Sorority Girls” and “Take My Drunk Ass Home.” His 2010 EP, “Spring Break 2 ... Hangover Edition,” featured three new songs: “Wild Weekend,” “Cold Beer Drinker,” and “I’m Hungover.”
His third EP, “Spring Break 3 ... It’s a Shore Thing,” hit on Feb. 25, 2011, just before his latest visit to PCB, and included four songs: “In Love With the Girl,” “If You Ain’t Here to Party,” “Shore Thing,” and “Love In a College Town.” March 2012 brought Bryan’s fourth Spring Break EP, “Spring Break 4 ... Suntan City,” which included the title track, “Spring Break-Up,” “Little Bit Later On,” and “Shake the Sand.”
Bryan compiled 12 EP songs and two new numbers in 2013 into the full-length album, “Spring Break … Here to Party,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In addition, one of the new tracks, “Buzzkill,” reached the Top 20 in the country chart.
Released later in 2013, Bryan’s fourth album, “Crash My Party,” included No. 1 singles “Crash My Party,” “That’s My Kind of Night,” “Drink a Beer,” “Play It Again,” “Roller Coaster,” and “I See You.” That spate of hits propelled him to win the “Entertainer of the Year” award from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.
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Bryan’s sixth Spring Break EP, “Spring Break 6 ... Like We Ain’t Ever,” debuted on his sixth visit to Spinnaker on March 11, 2014. That year, he was named Favorite Male Country Artist in the People’s Choice Awards.
“For the past six years, I’ve been coming down to Panama City Beach for Spring Break, having the time of my life,” Bryan said in a promotional video. “I want to tell you guys, it’s all about friends, fun in the sun — and being careful. You guys have a good time this year. Don’t do anything stupid.”
LUKE BRYAN CONCERTS
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Where: Spinnaker Beach Club,
- When: 4 p.m. March 11 and 12; doors open at 11 a.m.
- Admission: Free
- Details: SpinnakerBeachClub.com