The country group is enthralled with a diverse set
It’s not summer concert season without Zac Brown Band. The tight country group showcased why with a marathon two-set concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Friday (Oct 6th).
A few things have changed with ZBB since we last caught a show. Most notably, Caroline Jones is now in line front-and-center on stage with the rest of the group as an official full-time member as of last year.
But some things have stayed the same, too. The group’s impeccable light show and expansive stage set remain tradition, as does dividing the show into three sets — a first and second half, then a jam-band encore.
Jimmy Di Martini is perhaps the best fiddler working in the country rock space today. His fiery “Devil Went Down to Georgia” is an earworm. John Driskell Hopkins—still touring with the group and raising money for ALS research, the disease which he has—provides a rich baritone and a great contrast to Brown’s voice.
Matt Mangano also provides some bass, While Coy Bowles and Clay Cook add even more strings to round out the sound. Percussionists Chris Fryar and Daniel de Los Reyes keep the beat. Fryar is on drums, while Reyes adds unique sounds like steel drums or congas, depending on what the song calls for.
Jones offered her original song “Million Little Bandaids” early in the night. Very classy of Brown to cede the stage—and provide backing—to showcase a member and her own song which appears on her forthcoming album and features Brown.
A Zac Brown Band concert is a show with a variety of sounds. There’s the down-home “Whiskey’s Gone,” the Chesney-like “Toes,” and the breezy “Same Boat.” And there are the rockers, like “Day for the Dead.”
The second half opened with Cook delivering surprisingly powerful lead vocals on a smoldering cover of “Layla.” Followed shortly by a cathartic “Colder Weather,” the second half ran through an equal amount of hits and newer releases.
In a touching tribute, Brown’s duet with Jimmy Buffett, “Knee Deep,” welcomed the late trop-rock icon via video. Brown called out, “ I bet he’s got a nice stretch of beach picked out up there, y’all.”
One never knows what a ZBB concert will comprise. Each setlist is different, and up to the whims of a Grammy-winning band so tight, at ease, and familiar together that they seem to read each other’s minds. They don’t even need a setlist, because they are in lockstep for two and a half hours.
The covers could change from night to night. On this night, U2’s “With or Without You” preceded ZBB staple “Homegrown.”
One thing is for certain, though: they are practically contractually obligated to sing their biggest hit, “Chicken Fried,” to end each show on a note of pure country. And it certainly seemed the crowd at Merriweather did, indeed enjoy their cold beer—and Zac Brown Band’s country-comfort music—on this Friday night.
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