10 Reasons Zach Bryan’s U.S. Bank Show Was Worth Every Penny
If you went to Zach Bryan at The Bank this weekend, odds are you paid a pretty penny for your tickets. Between the Ubers, the cowboy costumes, hotels, drinks, and the stretch Escalade limousine—this one Saturday night could easily have been a percentage of your annual income.
But if you were lucky enough to be there on Saturday, and someone asked you how it went, odds are you either texted back “10/10” or maybe a slightly more creative “20/10” with the cowboy emoji. And there’s good reason for this return on investment, more precisely there’s 10 reasons:
#10 ZACH HAS HIS SIGHTS ON THE BELT.
Early on in Zach Bryan’s career, and still today with some Boomers, Zach Bryan is often confused with Luke Bryan or Zach Brown. And while Luke Bryan can be tolerable like an occasional margarita when the mood strikes, and Zach Brown is an excellent live performer in his own rite, Saturday night was proof that Zach Bryan has transcended his genre as a live performer. Not only is Zach Bryan the best country music live act on the planet, but he might also be the best live act on the planet, period. He’s on the podium, for sure.
Those two hours of power from Zach Bryan at U.S. Bank had more in common with Bruce Springsteen than anything in the country world. Bruce is called “the Boss” for a reason, bringing a “Prove it All Night” mentality to every single live show he plays. Zach has a similar chip on his shoulder, seemingly playing every single song like it’s an encore, or his one shot to show you what he has in the tank. All you have to do is look at his laser beam eyes on the giant screen behind him to know that Zach Bryan takes his craft seriously.
A Zach Bryan live show is massive, this is a young man at the height of his powers, and by all accounts you could very well be looking at the new heavyweight champion of the live music world. He’s at least holding the belt while Miss Swift is overseas. This 28-year-old singer songwriter, Mr. Zachary Lane Bryan is a gifted live musician, and someone we should expect to be rocking stadiums for the next several decades.
#9 IT’S ABOUT THE SONGS.
Critics of Zach Bryan will say his music all sounds the same. They’re missing the point, as Zach Bryan songs are about the words as much as the songs. All you had to do Saturday was look to your right and see the 50-year-old suburban mom in white boots belting out every word, before turning to your left to see the 15-year-old country bro belting out every word. Every word, to every song. From the poems he writes at the start of each of his records, to the tracks that follow, Zach Bryan has made lyrics matter again for the masses.
#8 WHEN EVEN THE “BAD SONGS” ARE GOOD SONGS LIVE.
Maybe you thought Zach’s latest record, The Great American Bar Scene, was a little sleepy or had too many songs. Next thing you know you’re at his live show and he’s playing “Oak Island” or “5th of May” and you can’t get your phone out fast enough to write the title in your notes. This is the true power of a live artist, that when you hear a song on a record, you think about how great it’s going to sound live. A perfect example of this is “American Nights.” While Zach didn’t play this song on Saturday, from first listen on the new album you could already see fists in the air echoing the chorus from the rafters, “Wet! Hot! American Nights!” Cue the stage lights to match.
#7 BE WHERE YOUR FEET ARE.
Zach Bryan has made the most money touring in the U.S. this year at a whopping $69 Million. Second on the list, is another country hitmaker—Morgan Wallen. If you’ve seen both performers, the contrast between the two couldn’t be more apparent. A Morgan Wallen show almost comes off as if Wallen himself is a product. He sounds like the radio, but you never get the sense he even knows what city he’s in. Even Wallen’s signature MMA-style walk- out seems to be more about Morgan than the audience.
By contrast, Zach was bathing in Minneapolis Saturday night. From recalling a show at the Fillmore 3 years prior, to playing Prince while he took the stage, to changing the lyrics to half a dozen songs to incorporate Minnesota into the lyrics – it was clear every Zach Bryan show is focused on the audience not the artist, and more importantly every Zach Bryan show is unique, different, and custom built to where he is. Oh, and in Minnesota Nice fashion, he did thank the audience about 50 times.
#6 LESS IS MORE.
Zach Bryan has risen at an unbelievable rate. In 3 years, he’s gone from playing the Fillmore to Surly to Target Center to selling out U.S. Bank Stadium. And while he did sprinkle in a few fireworks at the end, Bryan’s shows are really about the music. So much so that he had John Mayer marveling at the fact that he basically hangs some lights on poles and plays a kick ass show in front of a big screen in a jean jacket. No revolving drum kit, no inflatables, no wardrobe changes, no stage sets. Just the music, and with Zach Bryan, turns out that’s all you need.
#5 THE ZACH AESTHETIC.
Zach’s also smart about his creative choices, the devil is in the details with his production. Choosing to use predominantly black and white on the video board gives all the U2 Rattle and Hum feels, along with intercutting music videos with the songs. There are even Zach-isms that people will know and love, “Here’s a new song, hope you don’t hate it” perhaps being the best Zach Bryan sad-country boy bumper sticker of all time. Heck, Zack even went out of his way to hand everyone a paper ticket when they entered the stadium. Details, folks. Details.
#4 THE COOLEST BAND IN THE WORLD.
If you wondered why the new season of Yellowstone is taking so long, it might be because the entire cast is now in Zach Bryan’s band. I’m not sure where Zach found these guys but what a complete bunch of studs, and studs with chops, I might add. If it seemed like every person in Zach Bryan’s band was a young Ryan Hartman on fiddle, or maybe a Ryan Bingham stunt double, or the last greatest cowboy alive with a handlebar mustache to match. Take a look at his backing band, and it’s pretty clear Zach Bryan runs with the coolest cats in town. Usually when a groupie wants to end up with David Lee Roth, she settles for Michael Anthony. With Zach’s backing band of GQ outlaws, I don’t think you could go wrong. Zach has somehow overlapped the concentric circles of amazing live musicians with guys that guys want to be, and guys that gals want to be with. What a legend. Studs!
#3 THE “REVIVAL” ENCORE IS UNMATCHED.
Someone call the women, and someone steal the bible, because you won’t find a better encore than “Revival” at a live show. Zach has transformed this song into something Bruce and the E Street Band would love, calling to mind the Boss’s epic closer, “If I Should Fall Behind.” In the current iteration, “Revival” provides an opportunity for Zach to introduce his band, giving them each a turn in the spotlight including drum solo, bass solo, and (no spoilers) reviving a guitarist or two. Someone should reach out to Jim Beam and see if they can replace the fireworks with oak barrels of rot-gut whiskey dropping from the rafters.
#2 A ZACH BRYAN LIVE SHOW IS ACTUALLY A REVIVAL.
Perhaps the biggest compliment you can give a Zach Bryan show, is it has a little religious fervor to it. It feels like, well, a revival. Maybe it’s a revival of live music, or lyrics mattering, or country that doesn’t get played on the radio—it doesn’t really matter, because there’s something spiritual going on. Throughout the night on Saturday, you could see entire sections of the floor all taking off their cowboy hats at the same beat of the song and holding them in the air, or pumping their fists when the lights reminded us better days were ahead on “East Side of Sorrow.” Even when Zach flipped stages for the encore, you had thousands of people just dancing and watching him on the big screen at the other end of the stadium as the fireworks went off. If live music is church, Zach Bryan left U.S. Bank in the popemobile on Saturday night.
#1 HE SETTLED THE MINNY DEBATE ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Whether or not Minnesota should be referred to as “Minny” has been a hot topic for years. It’s like people in San Francisco debating if the city should be referred to as “San Fran” or “SF.”
I’ve personally always been a fan of calling Minnesota “Minny,” it works, and I don’t think it’s scandalous like calling Boston “Beantown” or something. And if you’ve been here long enough it seems like there are bigger things to worry about. Funny that it took an Oklahoma boy to refer to us as “Minny” to make it sound so perfect that this argument is officially over. Minny it is, because Zach said so.
NETWORK PARTNERS
