“I’m a simple man,” sang Zach Bryan at the launch of his eagerly anticipated Quittin’ Time Tour on Tuesday at a packed United Center. Though his status as a full-blown phenomenon may suggest otherwise, the singer-songwriter did nearly everything to let the claim register with undeniable truth.
Playing the first of a sold-out, three-night stand in Chicago, Bryan gave no indications he’s about to abandon the core beliefs and down-to-earth fundamentals that helped turn him into one of the most popular artists on the planet. Seemingly in awe of his success, he may have set an unofficial record for the number of times a musician expressed gratitude to fans and checked up on their well-being at a single concert.
Though routine banter has long been an easy way for stars to curry favor and appear on the level with their audiences, the sincerity with which the vocalist expressed himself and apologized for minor mistakes suggested he meant every word he said. Similarly free of angles and artifice, and rooted in basic principles often trampled or ignored by modern society, Bryan’s music stood as a clear reflection of his polite and humble persona.
Containing overt references to touchstones such as Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Grateful Dead, his fare occupied a middle ground between sweetness and ruggedness, polish and grit. That balance — coupled with a steady stream of uplifting vibes, big hooks and shout-your-lungs-sore choruses — explained why multiple generations in the audience sang along with gusto. The singer’s penchant for keeping his lyrics direct, emotions out in the open and inflections conversational fostered further connections. Ditto his decision to perform in an in-the-round stage configuration that afforded everyone ample facetime.
Bryan’s rise from an unknown who first attracted a following by posting his songs online while serving in the U.S. Navy to a festival-headlining household name is nothing short of meteoric. Deemed Billboard’s Top New Artist for 2023 — the first country musician to receive the honor — Bryan witnessed all 16 tracks from his most recent LP simultaneously crack the Top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Rock Songs, and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts.
Despite the Taylor Swift-esque feats and multiple Grammy nominations, the 27-year-old follows a tack more traditionally associated with the old-school indie-rock community than mainstream contemporaries in the social-media age. Bryan often shies from fame and eschews the press. That strategy might account for how he finds the time to maintain a wildly prolific pace.
Since issuing his independent debut in 2019, Bryan has released two full-length albums, a triple album and three EPs. He also dropped a live record, “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster,” with a title reflecting the singer’s views on the ticket seller and efforts to prevent scalping. Plenty of those challenges await.
His run at United Center kicks off a lengthy North American trek that includes stops at baseball and football stadiums. The outing continues through August with a short break in July. By then, Bryan should have another new album to his credit.
Not that any individual sought the spotlight, including Bryan, who dutifully moved around the open rectangular stage from microphone to microphone on every song to ensure everyone in the crowd enjoyed straight-ahead views. The band’s easygoing chemistry and jubilant body language communicated the all-for-one spirit broadcast in the largely autobiographical tributes “Boys of Faith” and “Highway Boys.” Bryan referred to the group as his “best friends in the world” and acted as their equal. What better method to ensure no member feels slighted when four guitars descend on a passage?
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Dressed in a denim jacket, jeans and a Chicago Bulls T-shirt, Bryan primarily strummed acoustic guitar and focused on measured deliveries that brought his rich, red-dirt accent to the forefront. His shoulders lifted and fell as he sang, and his calm phrasing concealed the back-of-the-throat rasp that surfaced when he leaned into a line or increased his volume. Dogged and folksy, Bryan avoided drama and exaggeration. Remove the arena atmosphere and projection screens and this was a dude grateful to be sharing his thoughts and busking for beer money at a nowheresville dive.
Bryan mentioned his low-key past on several occasions, his eyes glistening and smile widening when talking about his small-town background and unexpected fortune. He addressed the flickering “Tishomingo,” waltzing “Oklahoma City” and rumbling “East Side of Sorrow” with a permanence that suggested they were sonic extrapolations of tattoos inked on his body. The patient clip of the wishful “God Speed” sounded the way a saddled horse feels to a rider when galloping across an open prairie: stable, confident, grounded.
Whether running down the highs and lows of a relationship with surprise guest Kacey Musgraves (the duet “I Remember Everything),” pleading with a romantic interest to leave a dead-end partner (the explosive “Oklahoma Smokeshow),” or stepping into the mind of a grade-school pool shark tasked to win bets placed by his drunkard father (the rambunctious “Nine Ball”), Bryan remained even-keeled. Afforded the perspectives and experiences of a military veteran, he hit on themes (loyalty, family, god, integrity, common sense) and places (back roads, factories, smoke-filled halls, rodeos, shade trees, honey holes, open skies) linked to ordinary simplicity and tradition, and made them all seem ripped from his own scrapbook.
As much as the band’s slow-to-midtempo momentum surges and foot-stomping rhythms functioned as pressure releases, Bryan’s sense of the practical things people value, dream and recall — both publicly and, especially, privately — resonated with greater degrees of shared purpose and no-frills transparency. His innate ability to relay sadness, joy and the limbo that lies in between via poignant, plainspoken language overshadowed the few instances where narratives called for extra specificity or detail.
In the nearer term, Bryan and his mates could immediately benefit from injecting additional variety and extra bite into the arrangements. They possess the tools — pedal steel, stand-up bass, banjo, mandolin, keyboards, percussion, horns and more — to venture deeper into country, Americana, bluegrass and offshoot styles. That daring, which informs the candor of Bryan’s lyrics, is currently lacking. As the evening unfolded, song structures tended to fall back on formula and overlap, with Bryan’s singing and words the key distinguishing factors.
Also, the T-shirt cannons during the open-invite party and extended jam session of “Revival” need to go. In the context of the show, they’re the equivalent of a mechanical bull at an overpriced bar desperate to put on a country front. Exactly the sort of facade the straight-shooting singer would despise.
Setlist from the United Center March 5:
“Overtime”
“Open the Gate”
“God Speed”
“The Great American Bar Scene”
“Fifth of May”
“Tishomingo”
“Deep Satin”
“Oklahoma City”
“Nine Ball”
“Boys of Faith”
“‘68 Fastback”
“Better Days”
“Condemned”
“Tourniquet”
“Oklahoma Smokeshow”
“I Remember Everything”
“East Side of Sorrow”
“Dawns”
“Highway Boys”
“Something in the Orange”
“Heading South”
“Burn, Burn, Burn”
“Hey Driver”
“Quittin’ Time”
Encore
“Revival”