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We couldn’t wait.
Don’t get me wrong — I could listen to Sheryl Crow’s crystalline vocals all night long, but her opening set was not why I trekked to Newark, NJ’s Prudential Center on a Thursday night, with work looming large the next morning. The rest of the impatient crowd seemed to feel the same, pining for Zach Bryan to fall out of the sky and onto center stage to cure our aching for his raspy voice and gut-wrenching lyrics.
In true country music fashion, the makeup of the crowd was somewhat jarring. After scouting the scene, I clocked teenyboppers swinging around in straw cowboy hats, their bearded dads in backwards baseball caps, and a few twenty-something bachelors. That checked out; Zach Bryan’s devoted fanbase has seemed to grow in every direction since he embarked on his nationwide ‘Quittin Time’ tour which comes to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on March 27-28 and Long Island’s UBS Arena on March 30-31.
My hands slipped from the constraints of our seats as Bryan’s band, Highway Boys, weaved through the crowd to find their spots onstage. This view is preferable; a platform centered mid-arena means each section is granted frequent full-frontal views as the singer makes the rounds to croon to each corner. Heavy lifting for Bryan and his acoustic guitar, but a welcome gift for the rest of us.
Chasing behind the band was the unassumingly dressed Bryan in plain gray jeans and an open jacket. I still remember everything about the first time I heard his festering lyrics in “Heading South,’ a shaky homemade music video taken on a Navy base not far from my home in Washington State. One could argue it was that short clip that made him famous, but I tend to believe that anyone with a voice as powerful as Bryan’s is bound to find an audience at some point.
Like many of us who came to country music later in life, I’d spent the good part of my adolescence resisting the urge to enjoy anything that sounded remotely honky-tonk. But then I heard Zach Bryan belt, and everything changed. His opening act, “Overtime,” reminded me exactly why I was affected by his gravelly timbre in the first place. The way he sings and performs is unlike the majority of Nashville’s mainstream prodigies — it’s gritty, grainy, and untuned, carved out of desperate lyrics and raw emotions, powered behind an army of folksy instruments — guitar, electric drums, bass, harmonica, fiddle, and more.
The meat of Bryan’s performance came as the band rumbled out the intro to “God Speed,” a diamond in the rough from his debut album, “DeAnn,” named after his late mother. “I wrote this when I was eighteen and I sang it for five years and didn’t think anyone would hear it, ever,” Bryan called out with an applause. “I am just so thankful you’re all here.” And, there he went. Bryan wailed, and we listened. He smiled, and we cheered. He gave us the mic, and we sang: “I’m movin’ at God speed/Only God and my mama know what I need.”
And as I warbled along, I began to stitch together Bryan’s simple genius — his way of harmonizing with such a mixed crowd is rooted in the vulnerability of his songwriting, stories about dark times and lost loves, memories that seem more in the present than past, and the qualms of living a life unexpected, or better, heading down one path and turning away from another. To put it simply, what I love about Bryan is not just his music, but his capacity for unloading our egos.
Or, perhaps, for making grown men cry.
By mid-set, Bryan was getting us acquainted with his newer output, starting with “Great American Bar Scene,” an unreleased song which may just give its title to his forthcoming album. All the quintessential Bryan elements were there — clapping and drumming, strumming the guitar, while churning out wicked lyrics like the unforgettable “Neon lightnin’, wooden floors, light leaves/As her feet quietly slide across/Tough boys of all, they came and went.”
I think everyone in the building felt like we met his eyes from across the bar as he made his rounds to serenade each corner of the stage. But Bryan’s got that way of waging intimacy in a grandiose arena, his stories land deep coupled with unpretentious staging and lack of strict choreography makes his performances feel more like witnessing a virtuoso at an open mic-night at your local dive. “We don’t deserve any of you,” the singer called out. And, that right there is the Bryan effect: modest, and unpretentious, but as proud and grateful as they come. He sipped his Budweiser, and started again.
For those itching to know, there was no shortage of chart-topping hits. The artist indulged us graciously, lulling out one after another with no reserve, his vocals growing raspier with each song, somehow like a whisper and scream all at once. I still can’t place where I lost my voice — but likely somewhere between “Tourniquet,” “East Side of Sorrow,” “Oklahoma Smokeshow,” or perhaps when he abruptly pulled a fan on to the stage to sing “Dawns” with him.
The mood grew heavier once “I Remember Everything” came on. There was a yearning for something only he could give us. Bryan typically duets the love song with Kacey Musgraves, but there’s much speculation to whom it is dedicated — not that it really matters — since the resonant lyrics seem to hit home with anyone who’s been in love before: “Rotgut whiskey’s gonna ease my mind/ Beach towel rests on the dryin’ line/ Do I remind you of your daddy in my ’88 Ford?/Labrador hangin’ out the passenger door.”
A brief interlude was met with tingling anticipation. We had all but dimmed to a quiet as Bryan began blasting out “Quittin Time,” an ode to the longing for a break from the routine and responsibility of hard work done with little recognition. I felt a hammering ripple of trepidation among those around me, all of us wondering if this track could be his last. To our disappointment, it certainly appeared likely.
As Bryan and ‘the boys’ turned down the lights, and made their way off the stage, the crowd erupted with disapproval. Nobody wanted to accept this denouement. Chants echoed in all forms — some screeching, others singing, a few tween boys next to us cheering “U.S.A,” and a wave of arms making its way across the arena. We all agreed: the night couldn’t be over yet.
And when we called, he answered. Snare drums and bass galvanized the floor, and the intro to Bryan’s final song of the night came on. “Revival” played like the masterpiece it is — a rock-n-roll encore to cap off a night of more softhearted melodies. Bryan sang gleefully, “We’re having an all night revival/Someone call the women and someone steal the Bibles/For the sake of my survival/ Baptize me in a bottle of Beam and put Johnny on the vinyl.”
The young star’s confidence shined brightest as he introduced each of ‘the boys’ as he called them, unique, speak-for-yourself talents that he picked up along his ventures in the military and traveling the world on tour. They each took turns debuting their instrumental solo pieces, to which Bryan sang and danced, at one point even dragging the banjo player up to the mic to deliver a few verses of his own. Yes, now we were fully-satisfied once “Revival” concluded.
Final verdict
There’s no question about it. Zach Bryan’s ‘Quittin Time’ live show delivers. It’s gutsy and humble, appeasing diehard bluegrass fans and those who don’t follow country music, alike. His touch on the genre is markable, a welcome diversion from the popped-up radio country that leaves a bitter taste in some mouths. Bryan is quenching our thirst for something real, returning us to our roots, and reminding us why a Thursday night show in New Jersey is well worth the trek — even if your ‘Quittin’ Time’ at work isn’t coming anytime soon.
Zach Bryan 2024 tour schedule
A complete calendar including all tour and festival dates, venues and links to the best ticket prices can be found here:
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Zach Bryan festival appearances
Bryan is currently scheduled to headline at three festivals this year.
Rather than leave you in the dark, here’s everything — dates, venues and fellow headliners — you need to know about every fest on his 2024 calendar.
Zach Bryan set list
On Thursday, March 14, Bryan performed 26 songs.
For a closer look, here’s everything he performed, courtesy of Set List FM:
01.) “Overtime”
02.) “Open the Gate”
03.) “God Speed”
04.) “The Great American Bar Scene”
05.) “Fifth of May”
06.) “Tishomingo”
07.) “Oklahoma City”
08.) “Nine Ball”
09.) “Boys of Faith”
10.) “East Side of Sorrow”
11.) “’68 Fastback”
12.) “Better Days”
13.) “Tourniquet”
14.) “Condemned”
15.) “Oklahoma Smokeshow”
16.) “The Good I’ll Do”
17.) “Dawns”
18.) “Highway Boys”
16.) “I Remember Everything”
20.) “Heavy Eyes”
21.) “Heading South”
22.) “Burn, Burn, Burn”
23.) “Hey Driver”
24.) “Sweet DeAnn”
25.) “Quittin’ Time”
Encore:
26.) “Revival”
Zach Bryan new music
Last August, Bryan dropped his fourth studio album, the self-titled “Zach Bryan.”
Comprised of 16 tracks, the record features guest turns from big-name acts like Kacey Musgraves, The Lumineers, Sierra Ferrell, and The War and Treaty.
“(I’m) really proud to call the writing and production on somethin’ all mine,” Bryan shared about the album on Instagram. “I didn’t make this album to appease people who will never be happy anyways, I made it for my people.”
If you want to hear the introspective, soulful, and sparse “Zach Bryan,” you can listen to it in its entirety here.
Zach Bryan opening acts
Need to brush up on Bryan’s special guests so you can sing along with them at the show of your choosing?
We’re here to help.
You can find each act’s most-streamed song on Spotify below.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: “If We Were Vampires”
Sheryl Crow: “All I Wanna Do”
Sierra Ferrell: “In Dreams”
the Middle East: “Blood”
Matt Maeson: “Hallucinogenics”
Levi Turner: “Allergy Season”
Country stars on tour in 2024
Many of Bryan’s contemporaries and forefathers are bringing the heat to venues all over North America this summer.
Here are just five of our favorite country tours you won’t want to miss these next few months.
• George Strait with Chris Stapleton
• Morgan Wallen
• Luke Combs
• Tyler Childers
• Willie Nelson with Bob Dylan and Robert Plant
Wondering who else is on the road? You ought to check out our list of the 50 biggest concert tours in 2024 here to find out.
