Luke Combs Recalls Adele Going Nuts During Chris Stapleton’s 2023 Super Bowl National Anthem: “She Was Losing Her Mind”

Chris Stapleton may go down as one of the best pure vocalists in country music history.

The country music singer/songwriter has penned over 170 songs, including a ton of #1 singles, both as a writer and a recording artist. Everybody in music is trying to get him to record a duet, and for the most part, they’ve been pretty successful. In the past handful of years, he’s collaborated with Pink, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Carlos Santana, Morgan Wallen, Tom Morello, Justin Timberlake… the list goes on and one and on.

The Kentucky native has one of the most raw, powerful, and authentic voices you’ll ever hear.

With that being said, many believe that one of his best performances was two years ago on Super Bowl Sunday, when he put together one of the most impressive national anthem renditions the Super Bowl has ever seen. Whitey Houston is the only other person even in the conversation.

Seriously, when you have Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, now retired offensive lineman Jason Kelce, and Chiefs DT Chris Jones bawling like babies while you’re performing, you know you’re doing something right.

Just relive this greatness for a moment:

And one of those people who believes that Stapleton’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” is one of the best ever? No other than Luke Combs.

He confessed that Chris was the best he’s ever seen during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, saying:

“That National Anthem at the Super Bowl dude, it’s that and Whitney Houston. Two best national anthems ever in my opinion in a Super Bowl ever.”

Luke just so happened to be next to Adele during the game, someone who isn’t even an American, and according to him, she’s was going bonkers:

“I was sitting in a box with Adele at the Super Bowl, and he sang that thing, and she was watching and like two lines in, she goes ‘Holy SH*T.’ She’s just like losing her mind dude. It was unbelievable… he’s unbelievable.”

Joe Rogan agreed:

“He’s a good dude too. I had him on a few years back, he’s fun to hang with. He’s a very very genuine person. It’s always nice when you meet someone that you really admire, and they’re just cool as f***.”

As they turned the performance on in the studio, Luke says:

“When Nick Sirianni cries in this thing, I felt like a bald eagle was gonna fly over the stadium dude, it was the most American thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Amen… God bless America and Chris Stapleton. And hell, God bless Luke Combs too.

Check it out:

Chris Stapleton Won’t Watch His Own Performance

Of course, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni crying was a tender moment from the performance, but it was also just an instant meme.

Weighing in on the tearful moment, Sirianni said:

“I’ve dreamed about this since I’ve been two years old. It’s just emotional because there’s a lot of work, not just by myself, but a lot of people. Starting with my wife and my kids, my brothers, my dad and just so many people… It’s just emotional in that moment knowing where we were.”

Stapleton has since weighed in on the performance as well, as Entertainment Tonight caught up with him to ask how it felt being out there in front of a packed house at State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona:

“Man, it felt great. It really did. The energy was good and the crowd was hyped up for the game, so that kind of gets you ready to go.”

However, Stapleton also admitted that he’s not sure if he can go back and watch it:

“I don’t know if I can watch it, man. I try not to watch myself back too much.”

I honestly think there’s more pressure on the person singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl than the halftime performance… those are so subjective, and how much you like it probably depends purely on how much you like the artist performing.

But the Anthem is a completely different thing, and a hard enough song to sing as it is… so when it comes to the biggest sporting event of the year, with millions of eyes on one person singing one of America’s most sacred songs, it’s just so hard to pull off.

One And Done

Chris has said before that he used to joke about singing the Anthem at the Super Bowl, and now that he’s done it and nailed it (my words), he told Dale Earnhardt Jr. on an episode of his Dirty Mo Media podcast recently that he’s officially retired from doing it ever again:

“Oh yeah, I practiced that one. I don’t get nervous to play, necessarily… that one, I was like I’m gonna make sure I’m as prepared as I can be for this. I would have people ask me to sing the National Anthem for various things, and I jokingly always said, ‘No, I’ll just do it when it’s time to do it at the Super Bowl,’ you know.

And I just turned it down a lot, and I do say now that I’ve officially retired from it as well. And I have to give credit to, and I’m not saying my version wasn’t wasn’t good, I think it was good, but all the TV editing that they did while I was doing it was just spot on.

Everything that they did to make that moment feel as big and nice as it could, they did it. And they executed flawlessly. So, yes, I prepared for that and yes, I worked on that. Genuinely nerve-racking, and I was live live. There was no pre-record anything.”

He said his team seemed happy with it, so he was content in knowing he didn’t blow it and could relax and watch the game.

Little did he know, because Stapleton is always so humble, it would become one of the best of all time, and a performance anyone will have a hard time topping going forward:

The podcast clip:

Chris Stapleton 2025 Tour Dates :

February 25—Melbourne, Australia—Rod Laver Arena* (SOLD OUT)
February 26—Melbourne, Australia—Rod Laver Arena* (SOLD OUT)
February 28—Brisbane, Australia—Brisbane Entertainment Centre* (SOLD OUT)

March 1—Brisbane, Australia—Brisbane Entertainment Centre* (SOLD OUT)
March 4—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena* (SOLD OUT)
March 5—Sydney, Australia—Qudos Bank Arena* (SOLD OUT)
March 7—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena* (SOLD OUT)
March 8—Auckland, New Zealand—Spark Arena* (SOLD OUT)

June 4—Greenville, SC—Bon Secours Wellness Arena† (SOLD OUT)
June 6—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena†
June 7—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena‡
June 12—Grand Rapids, MI—Van Andel Arena+ (SOLD OUT)
June 13—Grand Rapids, MI—Van Andel Arena+
June 18—Greensboro, NC—First Horizon Coliseum^
June 20—Albany, NY—MVP Arena^
June 27—Tinley Park, IL—Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre#
June 28—Tinley Park, IL—Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre#

July 11—St. Louis, MO—Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre‡
July 12—Milwaukee, WI—Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival
July 23—Belmont Park, NY—UBS Arena~
July 25—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden~
July 26—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden~

August 1—Noblesville, IN—Ruoff Music Center** (SOLD OUT)
August 2—Noblesville, IN—Ruoff Music Center**
August 8—Phoenix, AZ—Desert Diamond Arena‡‡ (SOLD OUT)
August 9—Phoenix, AZ—Desert Diamond Arena‡‡
August 15—Salt Lake City, UT—Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre* (SOLD OUT)
August 16—Salt Lake City, UT—Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre*
August 22—Denver, CO—Ball Arena** (SOLD OUT)
August 23—Denver, CO—Ball Arena**

October 10—Hollywood, FL—Hard Rock Live
October 11—Hollywood, FL—Hard Rock Live

*with special guest Marcus King
†with special guest Nikki Lane
‡with special guest Brittney Spencer
+with special guest Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs
^with special guest Maggie Rose
#with special guest The War & Treaty
~with special guest Grace Potter
**with special guest Allen Stone
‡‡with special guest Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlative

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