Zach Bryan review: Country superstar vows to move to Cork during first night in Páirc Uí Chaoimh
Zach Bryan plays to a packed audience at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday. Picture; Eddie O'Hare
"I gotta fucking move to Cork, guys,” Zach Bryan says not even twenty minutes into his first gig at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and given the stadium-shaking love pouring out from the crowd for him it’s no surprise he has a newfound grá for the Real Capital.
Bryan arrives on stage before 8.30pm, after the crowd has been well warmed up by support acts Dijon and Fey Fili, and it’s a rapturous reception as he asks “how ya feeling, Rebel County?” and launches into his opening tune, Overtime.
Next up is Open The Gates, and it feels like the gates of the Páirc have been flung open to welcome Leeside fans of the country music superstar, who revel in the music and the midsummer sunshine. Bryan is a colossal presence on stage as he promises to “blow the roof off this place” from the get-go, and with a massive live band to support him he easily commands the attention of the tens of thousands of onlookers in the crowd.
“You might be the best crowd I’ve performed for in my life, thank you very much,” Bryan says before treating the Cork crowd to some of his biggest hits, including Say Why, Nine Ball, and I Remember Everything, with Dawns bringing those sitting in the stands to their feet early on.
“I want to thank you, kind people of Cork, for coming out to see us, it really means a lot to me.”
Any curious onlookers watching those attending Bryan’s first night in Cork will have come to one conclusion: this isn’t the bootcut jeans and brown shoe-wearing crowd you might expect at a typical country music gig.
Sure, there are cowboy boots and hats aplenty, but the demographic at Heaven on Tour is remarkably younger than the audience you might see at an act like Garth Brooks, with most of those making their way to Páirc Uí Chaoimh firmly in their 20s and younger — the end of Leaving Cert exams and subsequent celebrations likely being a key factor in why many bought tickets.
So yes, it’s a far cry from bootcut jeans, as fake tanned limbs stretching from denim shorts and mini skirts dominate the stadium, but the passion for the music is the same nonetheless.
The toe-tapping power ballads are easy hits, but even the more melancholy tunes like Something In The Orange has a rapt crowd singing along just as animatedly. It sparks a moment of humility that comes across as very genuine from the singer.
“I don’t deserve any of you, thank you guys so much,” Bryan says, before upping the mood with a Happy Birthday singalong for his fiddle player Lucas, and he later dedicates Billy Stay to all the dads ahead of Father’s Day.
By 9pm, the crowd is singing Olé Olé Olé, and impressively Bryan’s band picks up the tune as the star picks up a tricolour, and the crowd reaches a frenzy.
“I ain’t never been to Cork before this. The Dublin crowds are quiet compared to this — don’t tell them I said that!”
While Bryan totes a Marvin Gaye tee on stage, his band make more local sartorial choices: there’s a Cork GAA jersey, an Ireland tee, a Pogues top. It’s far from Bryan’s first appearance on an Irish stage — just last year he played to over 100,000 people in Phoenix Park — but the reception from his fans down the Páirc clearly has him glad to have added Cork and Belfast stops to his tour.
“It’s been about a year since I’ve been back in this country — like to the day, it’s weird. I’m glad I’m here with you guys,” he says towards the end of the night.
As the encore song Revival fades away while the sun sets, it feels like the tour’s name should be With Heaven In Cork. We’ll gladly welcome Bryan home once he makes that move to Cork.
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