Zach Bryan kicked off his “The Quitting Time Tour” delivering an incredible 25 song set list at The United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Bryan came out with incredible energy to his first song of the show “Overtime.” The lyrics speak to a personal journey of overcoming obstacles and adversity. This song was jam-packed with amazing guitar work and even better raspy, bold, and loud vocals from Bryan and his band.
“Zach Bryan sounds even better live than in his songs,” concert attendee Trafton O’Brien said. “Sometimes you go to concerts and the artist sounds similar to their songs, but I have never been to a concert where the artist sounds even better live than their (recorded) songs until Zach Bryan.”
His performance of “Godspeed” from his debut album DeAnn was a personal highlight because it showed off Bryan’s soft and gentle voice instead of his usual big and loud raspy voice.
Other songs like “Burn Burn Burn,” “Hey Driver,” “I Remember Everything,” and “Something in the Orange” also brought the crowd together through familiar lyrics and Bryan’s stage presence.
Seemingly everyone’s favorite, however, has to be the nearly 15 minute version of his song “Revival” as the encore of the tour where each member of Bryan’s band has a solo opportunity for their particular instrument.
His banjo player, Read Connelly, pretended to faint in front of the entire audience during the performance of “Revival” and then proceeded to play an incredible solo on the banjo to really show off his talent, which had the crowd screaming.
Besides Bryan and his band’s talent, another great thing about this show was the atmosphere. The lighting was minimal compared to other concerts. Bryan only really had some small twinkly fairy lights and some multi-colored lighting on the stage itself. The lighting definitely made the show feel more intimate and relaxed, which isn’t something you feel during most other concerts.
The concert itself was nearly perfect, however, his opening act The Middle East was collectively not great. The Middle East reunited for their first full tour in 14 years for Bryan’s tour, and it definitely showed. They were extremely quiet throughout their performance and mumbled a large amount of their lyrics.
They also didn’t really fit with the audience and the crowd present at Bryan’s show. Most of the audience were in their teenage years, and you could definitely tell no one knew any of their songs nor did they particularly like what was being played.
Disregarding the opener, Bryan’s “Quittin Time Tour” was absolutely perfect. Each and every song he sang really showed how talented Bryan is and how far he has come as an artist. If you are questioning buying a ticket to the “Quittin Time Tour,” absolutely do it.
