CONCERT REVIEW: Brooks & Dunn show Des Moines that they are far from finished
By Darren Tromblay
For many successful music artists, retirement is code for “taking a break.” Not a permanent one. Just a break.
Any and all pronouncements by aformentioned “retiring” artists of anything being their “last” should be taken with a grain of salt in the back of a pickup truck parked on a red dirt road headed for church on a Sunday morning.
In reality, “last” isn’t “last; it’s code for “until next time.”
Such is the case with country music’s most popular duo of all time, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, aka, Brooks & Dunn. In 2009, after millions of albums sold and hundreds of shows together over the course of a long and fruitful career, the duo announced that they would be splitting up after one final tour, “The Last Rodeo.”
There’s that word: “last.”
Wink, wink.
True to form, the southern duo, who are tied with Vince Gill for most Country Music Association awards in history with 18, and have the second-most Academy of Country Music awards in history with 30, were far from kaput. The two reunited in 2014 for a few select shows, which eventually led to a full-length album in 2019 called “Reboot,” then another, “Reboot II,” last year.
The pair have been busy in “retirement,” including putting together a brand-spanking new, full-blown tour, “Neon Moon,” which rolled into Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Thursday night to the delight of more than 15,000 concert-goers.
With a monster catalog that includes 20 No. 1 hits, the duo could have rested on their “retirement” laurels and gone through the motions of a nearly two-hour set.
Hardly. Coasting is just not them. Like retirement.
Backed by a seven-man band, the two sent the crowd into a 1990s wayback machine, busting out of the gates with Dunn’s instantly recognizable vocals on a pair of tunes from the duo’s 1991 album, “Brand New Man” — the hard rocking title track, followed by “My Next Broken Heart.”
The constantly-in-motion Kix, now 69, showed that he hasn’t lost many — if any — steps despite his age, taking the mic for “Mama Don’t Get Dressed Up For Nothing,” “She Likes to Get Out of Town,” and later offering a few bars of a stripped-down acoustic version of “Lost and Found.”
The duo weren’t reliant on staging to carry the show, instead choosing one giant, semi-sheer backdrop to project imagery onto. There was no giant catwalk slicing down the middle of the audience, no fireworks, no battery of a thousand rotating strobes. Just them and the band on a couple of minimal risers that were flanked by eight, stage-level lights on each side.
This night was about the music. 
Dunn turned the mic outward to get some help on the opening chorus of “Red Dirt Road,” with Brooks applauding the crowd afterward, calling them the “Des Moines country choir.” While sipping a cold one. That’s country.
The 71-year-old Dunn was seeming back at full speed after having to leave the stage two weeks earlier during a show due to the effects of an illness. It didn’t show Thursday night. The driving, up tempo “Hard Working Man” bordered on hard rock, and “Neon Moon,” featuring Dunn’s much-loved and recognized vocal performance, were spot-on.
The band dipped into later chart-topping tunes such as the cover of B.W. Stevenson’s “My Maria,” and encores “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “Little Miss Honky Tonk,” and show closer “Only In America.”
Opener Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway was a nice addition to the tour, eschewing the usual methodology of having a pop/country artists opening shows. Tuttle, a two-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year award, gave the mostly-receptive audience a taste of her brand of folksy bluegrass music during her short, but vibrant set.
Second-up David Lee Murphy was a solid lead-in to the headline act. Murphy hasn’t had a hit in many a year, but his resume is still impressive, having penned a handful of hits for both himself and artists such as Kenny Chesney (“Living In Fast Forward”), Blake Shelton (“The More I Drink”) and Blackberry Smoke (“Ain’t Much Left of Me”). Murphy is from the school of country music in which everyone plays live with no backing tracks for cover. The way it should be. In this space, anyone and everyone who keeps it real will get a tip of the hat here. Thompson Square’s cover of Murphy’s “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” and arguably his most popular tune, “Dust On The Bottle,” drew the biggest applause of the night. On a side note, his strikingly young looks had one concert goer quizzing another on how old Murphy is. The person — presumably not blind — gave an answer of 37.
Murphy is 66.
Good for you, DLM. You and the headliners are living proof that age is just a number. Last isn’t last. Done isn’t done.
It’s Dunn. And Brooks. And you. This rodeo won’t be your “last.”
Wink, wink.
Brooks & Dunn, 4.24.25, Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines
Brand New Man
My Next Broken Heart
She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind
Mama Don’t Get Dressed Up for Nothing
We’ll Burn That Bridge
You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone
Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You
Red Dirt Road
Lost and Found
No Way To Go
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)
My Maria
Encore:
Boot Scootin’ Boogie
Little Miss Honky Tonk
Only in America
