It seems as if Georgia-based Southern rock and country music powerhouse Zac Brown Band has spared no expense in preparing for its sixth headlining U.S. outing, dubbed the Black Out the Sun Tour. Everything about this latest production is just, well, big.
The tour, which came through Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Saturday before heading to the Forum in Inglewood on Sunday, is quite the spectacle, with elaborate lighting, ginormous screens and a two-tier stage, which was necessary to accommodate the whopping 13-piece ensemble that Brown has constructed, including a full horn section and some powerful backing vocalists.
With as many times as this award-winning, multi-platinum-selling group has rolled into Southern California in the past decade, it was refreshing to experience a different style of show, with a lot of the more familiar material getting a bit of a new life in a live setting thanks to the additional players.
Coming out straight away with “Whiskey’s Gone,” ZBB instantly got the crowd to its feet and clapping along, wasting no time as it moved on to “Knee Deep.” A bulk of the setlist came from the band’s 2015 release, “Jekyll + Hyde,” including the lead single, “Homegrown,” which was a huge sing-along just a few tracks into the evening and another example of a song getting a spruced-up treatment live with the inclusion of the mighty horn section. The latest single, “Castaway,” a Jimmy Buffet-style cut, was sharp, with added horns and bongos as the LED screens in the background transformed the stage into a chill under-the-sea setting.
“I feel that love in the air tonight,” Brown yelled to the packed amphitheater. “And it feels pretty good up here.”
Fans were definitely out to have a good time, many of them showing up hours early to tailgate and barbeque in the parking lot before the show. And as they double-fisted and guzzled large cups of beer, danced and sang along, Brown and his band provided a nice mix of new material, hits, fan-favorites and some interesting covers. They tackled the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” which unsurprisingly went over very well in this region of the country. The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” had a curious, funk music vibe, but whenever the lyrics “teenage wasteland” came around, everyone roared them back.
Brown had some fun, putting down his guitar and heading out onto the small catwalk for indie rock singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff’s “S.O.B.,” and the guys got a bit wild with its tribute to Prince, “Let’s Go Crazy,” which led the four-song encore. Brown also impressed with his lovely cover of “The Way You Look Tonight.” It had couples slow-dancing and ladies swooning toward the end of the set.
The show was broken into a few sections, with the band taking little breaks between each. Midway, it came out for a trio of acoustic songs, with the entire band getting cozy on the catwalk as it kicked things off with a beautiful performance of “Sweet Annie.” “The Muse,” off of the band’s 2013 EP, “The Grohl Sessions, Vol. 1,” which it worked on with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, was also a nice addition to the moment. Going back to “Jekyll + Hyde,” Brown prefaced the sweet song “I’ll Be Your Man (Song for a Daughter)” by saying that he hoped that every father and daughter would take a moment to really listen to the track.
The latter part of the set started with the band’s electro country single “Beautiful Drug,” which is still a bit jarring to hear on regular country radio, but this audience ate it up and danced along. “Keep Me in Mind” was hyper-extended as Brown introduced every member of his band halfway through. Sure, each player is phenomenal, and Brown has, hands down, one of the best bands across all genres of music, but with each musician getting a solo, it really did feel like it took forever to run through it. He brought the energy back up with “Tomorrow Never Comes” and “Toes.”
ZBB finished off the evening with arguably one of its best songs, “Colder Weather,” as well as the single that started it all for the band, “Chicken Fried.”
Opener Drake White & the Big Fire was also solid. The Alabama-based group delivered a great set at the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio in April and were handpicked by Brown for this tour. White could be heard all the way out in the venue courtyard belting out a more Joe Cocker version of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.” He also drew attention with his own material, including “Back to Free” and the single “Livin’ the Dream.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com
