In just under three years, Zach Bryan has gone from playing the Fillmore Minneapolis nightclub to the biggest stage in town. Saturday night, he filled U.S. Bank Stadium to the rafters with a confident, often compelling and surprisingly loud performance that suggested he has yet to hit his peak.
The 28-year-old’s remarkably swift ascent is all the more notable given that he did it outside the traditional Nashville path to stardom. Indeed, he began his career while still in the Navy, self-releasing his music online to an ever-growing audience. In late 2021, he was honorably discharged after eight years of service, hit the road and hasn’t stopped since.
That year, he played the Basilica Block Party and the Fillmore, which he mentioned twice during Saturday’s show. He sold out Surly Brewing Festival Field in 2022 and Target Center the following summer.
While he is signed to Warner Records, it’s clear Bryan’s the one calling all the shots, as he’s successfully crafted a career out of highly personal numbers that lean heavily into heartache and sadness. He’s also exceedingly prolific and has issued 85 songs over the past two years, across three albums, two EPs and a pair of standalone singles. (That said, he could use some editing, as his records tend to get repetitive the deeper you get into them.)
In a nod to a famously prolific Minnesotan, Bryan took the stage to “When Doves Cry” and jumped right into “Overtime” in a big and booming arrangement that set the pace for the evening. Rather than let his intimate songs get swallowed up by the size of the room, Bryan and his versatile band amped them up in every aspect, turning even the ballads into stadium (country) rockers.
Bruce Springsteen’s acoustic “Nebraska” album is an obvious influence on Bryan’s music and he’s clearly borrowed a thing or two from the E Street Band in terms of live performance, which was evident Saturday night in songs like “Open the Gate,” “Oak Island” and “Oklahoma Smokeshow.” (Not only did Bryan get the Boss to sit in on his song “Sandpaper” from his latest album “The Great American Bar Scene,” Springsteen joined Bryan onstage in Philadelphia for a pair of songs earlier this month.)
Bryan and company played on a long, sparse stage with a giant video screen behind them that stretched from one end of the stadium floor to the other. To help recreate the neighborhood/dive bar vibes of his music, strings of outdoor patio-style lights stretched above crowd.
From the start, Bryan has shown strength as a live performer and Saturday it felt like he had gained an even larger sense of confidence, both with his stage presence and his voice. (His trick of substituting Minneapolis or Minnesota into his song lyrics did get old pretty quickly, though.)
One can’t help but wonder, however, if he’s taking proper care of that voice. More than ever before, he slips into a gruff shout and barks out lyrics like Cookie Monster. During “Dawns,” he almost took it too far, with a sing/shout that was almost violent. That kind of singing can be tough to maintain and, at least for now, it doesn’t look like this guy is going away any time soon.
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