George Strait kicks off his five-show tour in a Linc packed with more than 52,000 fans

Welcoming Chris Stapleton to join him for three songs on Saturday, country legend George Strait congratulated the younger superstar for winning the male vocalist of the year award at the Academy of Country Music Awards two nights earlier.

“They should just give it to you every year,” Stapleton demurred, suggesting an alternate prize: “Male Vocalist of All Time.”

The more than 52,000 fans packed into Lincoln Financial Field roared their approval, as they did for virtually every move that Strait made throughout his two-hour, 30-song performance. Not that there was much in the way of physical movement. Complaining that “my back gave out on me a little while ago,” Strait, a week ahead of his 73rd birthday, restricted himself to ambling between a trio of stools arrayed across the stadium stage.

Even if Strait’s body no longer allows for “dancing around,” his voice showed no sign of age. From the honky-tonk rave-up of “Twang,” which opened the show, to the wistful strains of closer “The Cowboy Rides Away,” the King of Country Music sang with the understated emotion and whiskey-smooth tonality that have carried him to the record for most number one songs by any artist across genres.

While the stage was framed by garish neon-toned lights suggesting that Strait was trapped inside a jukebox, his voice was more suitably framed by his stellar Ace in the Hole Band, which played impeccably throughout. Much of the 11-piece band has been with Strait for more than four decades, with bassist Terry Hale and Mike Daily, whose weeping steel guitar was a highlight of the concert, having been with him before he struck out on his storied solo career in 1981. Lead guitarist Rick McRae proved to be another secret weapon whenever he was given the spotlight, spinning short but distinctive solos with a cowboy terseness.

Technically, Strait has been retired from touring since 2014, when he wrapped up his “Cowboy Rides Away Tour” in Arlington, Texas. He’s largely held to that promise, at least by the standards of endless farewell tours and reunions, only returning for a handful of stadium dates each summer. This year he’s playing just five shows, four in the Northeast and a single West Coast date in California.

Saturday night in Philly was the opening date for this year’s run, and the breezy spring evening provided the perfect climate for the jean skirts and cowboy boots that were the dress code of choice, as spotlighted by the crowd cam footage during “How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls.” Strait was clad in typical straightforward style, with a flannel jacket over a paisley button-down, Wrangler jeans, and black cowboy hat and boots — matching the acoustic guitar he carried all night.

While the Linc crowd still seemed unfamiliar with the four songs from Strait’s 2024 album Cowboys and Dreamers, nearly every other number from the career-spanning repertoire provoked a sing-along.

A brief nod to Mother’s Day preceded “Here for a Good Time,” but Strait largely let the songs speak for themselves — the wry “Ocean Front Property,” the beer-soaked Western swing of “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar,” the rawhide balladry of “Troubadour.”

He professed the classic “Amarillo By Morning” to be his own personal favorite, and introduced Waylon Jennings’ “Luckenbach, Texas” by claiming that the band hadn’t played the song since the ‘70s.

A portion of the show was given over to the Military Warriors Support Foundation, a nonprofit organization that donated a new home to a Purple Heart recipient onstage — who then took the opportunity to propose in front of the cheering stadium crowd, doffing his cowboy hat in celebration.

“Well, that’s a first,” Strait cracked afterward.

Strait’s heart-on-sleeve approach can occasionally turn mawkish, as on his ode to his fans with “I’ll Always Remember You,” during which he professed that he’s “not thinking about retiring,” despite officially doing just that more than a decade ago; or when the keyboards gave a too-glossy sheen to early 2000s material like “Run” and “I Saw God Today.” More blatant still was an advertisement for his tequila brand disguised as a song, “Codigo,” which preceded “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” in the encore.

Fresh off his latest ACM win, Chris Stapleton played a raucous 75-minute set that exemplified the arena rock-tailored approach that followed Strait’s neotraditionalism as mainstream country’s style of choice beginning in the ‘90s.

Featuring Stapleton’s searing guitar solos and soaring harmonies with his wife, Morgane, the set veered closer to Southern rock than Western swing — even opening “The Devil Named Music” with a verse of “Free Bird.” “Outlaw State of Mind” came to a particular thundering climax, sparring Stapleton’s shredding with blistering harmonic by longtime Willie Nelson family member Mickey Raphael.

Rising star Parker McCollum opened the show with charm and his own memories of this week’s ACM ceremony, during which he elbow-bumped Stapleton’s hat en route to the bathroom.

Warming up the crowd with chatter (and gifted an “I Heart Parker” sign from a younger member of the audience), he played a pop-glossy version of traditional country, culminating in the swelling dramatics of “Burn It Down.”