Zac Brown Band, Maverick on the Music Scene

Zac Brown Band – Down The Rabbit Hole Tour

August 10, 2018 at Target Field

Section F4, Row 24, Seats 27 and 28

My loving husband bought ZBB tickets for our 13 year Anniversary.  He knew I thought ZBB were real in terms of talent.  I like musicians that I can feel their emotions: their joy, their pain.  You can hear it in their voices and it sings to your soul.  (Miranda Lambert is another musician whom I consider real and I’ve been to her concert as well <3)

This was an outdoor concert and it could’ve gone really bad.  It didn’t dawn on me that this was a going to be outdoors until the night before.  I mean, I knew Target Field was a baseball field so it had to be outdoors, I just didn’t put two and two together.  First off, I don’t do well with heat and humidity.  Plus, last week we were having thunder storms for like three days in a row.  But, it turned out to be a perfect night: warm, slight breeze, and the humidity in check.

We were really close to the stage and that makes a huge difference in concert enjoyment.  It was the fourth row behind the General Admission (standing only) area.  We’ve been to other concerts in the nosebleed seats and it’s like watching TV, there’s no excitement.  When you’re right in front of the band on the ground level, you feel the energy, the hype.  They were awesome tickets.

We saw someone wipe out right near us trying to make it to their seats holding two plastic cups of beer in one hand.  Blood was dripping down both his knees, a wheelchair was rolled in, and there were four medics tending to him.  Hubby mentioned you get better treatment here than at an urgent care, hehe.  They patched him up but the fall didn’t deter him.  He left and came back with two more beers, again in one hand, lol.  He made it safely to his seat this time 😀

So, back to the topic on hand, Zac Brown Band.  The reason I even know about them is because I listen to country music and their songs are on the radio.  Therefore, I felt it was safe to say their songs were in the Country genre.  Going along that train of thought, I would’ve expected all country singers opening up for them.  Nope, One Republic set the stage for Zac Brown Band’s entrance and they aren’t country at all.  It seemed like such an odd choice to us, but as the concert progressed it made more sense.  ZBB does what they want and they are good at it.

ZBB isn’t just about the lead singer, Zac.  The other band members are talented in their own right.  Some sang along, some harmonized, some were given the chance to sing lead, and all were monsters on their instruments.  The whole band oozes talent.  I knew I loved Zac Brown Band songs, but now I’m a fan girl <3.

Their playlist was so much fun!  In the past, other concerts I’ve been to usually pepper a lot of the concert time with new songs.  ZBB played their well known songs, but they also sang some covers such as Charlie Daniel’s Band – Devil Went Down to Georgia, Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody, and Metallica – Enter Sandman.

It was so intense when they played Devil Went Down to Georgia!  There was such fierce concentration on all their faces.  It was a good thing they got it out of the way early in the concert because they might not have had enough energy at the end to perform it!

Bohemian Rhapsody – whaaaaat?? That was seriously our reaction.  Did I mention ZBB does what they want??  Fun times.

Enter Sandman – This had a long intro that didn’t quite sound like the original song.  But from the first couple notes, Jason remarked to me it sounded like Enter Sandman.  And lo and behold it was!  (He has an uncanny ability to identify music/songs from just a few notes).  Then the iconic notes played that even I knew it was Enter Sandman and we rocked out.

Speaking of fun, unexpected song choices, at the end of the night when the band members were introduced each sang a song snippet that showed their personality.  (The percussionist didn’t sing – he had a percussion solo though).

Here are the last 3 selections of the encore (because that’s all I remember):

• John Driskell Hopkins (I had to look up his name because I didn’t remember it) came marching forward and busted out Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back.
• Zac sang AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.  At this point, we were thinking they just forgot about the fiddler.  I mean Zac would be the last one introduced, right?  WRONG.
• Jimmy De Martini (again, I had to look this up) rounded out the roster with Beastie Boys’ Sabotage.  It was epic!  They knew who to save for last.

I have to say, I don’t think people younger than us would’ve had as much enjoyment because they wouldn’t have known/grown up with the songs ZBB covered.  In fact, some girl behind us asked if we knew all their songs.  We chuckled and said no, but she probably asked because we knew all the cover songs!

Towards the end of the concert I sat for a little bit and raised my left foot because it’s still in a boot (ankle surgery) and some girl asked me, “Oh my god, did you hurt yourself at work?”.  What??  How or why does one jump to that conclusion?  haha.  Drunk people are friendly people, but man, they don’t make a lot of sense sometimes, lol.

Anyways, with such a varied setlist, I’m convinced Zac Brown Band can sing (and do) anything.  If you haven’t seen them in concert, go buy tickets.  Now.  Seriously.  It doesn’t matter what genre of music you listen to.  They are talented artists and know how to entertain.  Everyone should go see them at least once.  Any other fans out there?

For future reference because I won’t be able to remember all the songs they played at the concert, here is the setlist:

• Homegrown
• Uncaged
• Kashmir (Led Zeppelin cover)
• The Devil Went Down to Georgia (The Charlie Daniels Band cover)
• Knee Deep
• As She’s Walking Away
• Use Somebody (Kings of Leon cover)
• Cold Hearted
• Keep Me in Mind
• Day for the Dead
• Colder Weather / Take It to the Limit
• Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
• Toes
• Day That I Die
• Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
• Free / Into the Mystic
• Whiskey’s Gone
• Quiet Your Mind
• 

Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)
• Sweet Annie
• Beautiful Drug
• Chicken Fried
• Encore:
  • Cult of Personality
  • Bennie And The Jets
  • Tush
  • Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
  • Percussion Solo
  • Baby Got Back
  • Thunderstruck
  • Sabotage

#Maverick #Talented #EntertainerOfTheYear #Memorable #Concert #DownTheRabbitHole #Minneapolis #MN #TargetField