ZAC BROWN BAND with NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE at Rogers Centre, Friday, July 13. Rating: NN
How does the intimacy of storytelling in country music work in a space as large as the Rogers Centre? It doesn’t. For Atlanta’s Zac Brown Band, it didn’t seem to matter.
The band started on a high, but it didn’t last long. They opened with the 2013 single Day For The Dead, which began the show with a nod to their love for Mexico and a showcase for fiddler Jimmy De Martini. A backdrop of sugar skulls and other popular dia de los muertos imagery livened the space. Quickly moving into the popular song Knee Deep, the band got the near-capacity stadium crowd up and dancing.
The band’s strong six studio albums give them plenty of material to fill a two-hour set, but the band indulged in several covers, including Use Somebody by Kings of Leon and Hozier’s Take Me To Church. They welcomed the actor Mike Smith, in character as Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, to play guitar along with a well-played but unadventurous cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman, though much of the crowd appeared to be unfamiliar with the song, unable to sing along as they did most others.
Bandleader Zac Brown radiated a warm and charming stage presence. He was able to entertain the crowd simply by singing, without gimmicks or quirky gestures. But I don’t think he connected with the audience on an emotional level, not even during the moving, personal My Old Man. Given the range of feeling in the band’s music, the performance felt underwhelming.
More songs from their newest album, Welcome Home, would have helped. Songs like Roots, 2 Places At 1 Time and Family Time evoke home, family, longing and a sense of place – themes that shine throughout their discography. But they were missing from the night’s setlist.
The show was fun enough the crowd got the party they were there for. But I felt robbed of the concert I know Zac Brown Band are capable of delivering.
Maybe the entire appeal of this kind of country music is its downhome simplicity, its ability to ignore headlines about Indigenous genocide, environmental disaster, asylum-seeking families being ripped apart and a sex-ed curriculum which has literally moved backwards. But I couldn’t help but be reminded that I was likely in the minority in the crowd, naïvely hoping for political commentary or deeper empathy. Doug Ford has just been elected, and I know thousands of people came from surrounding areas of Ontario for the show. They sang along to each song, they danced, they drank.
The second set ended with the band’s catchiest song Chicken Fried played against the backdrop of a Georgia fairground. It was fun and playful and sweet.
Then for their encore, the band returned wearing Blue Jays apparel and played several more covers, showing off a wide swath of influences. They played Elton John, Santana’s Black Magic Woman, Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot and Beastie Boys’ Sabotage, among others – a strange, dissatisfying ending.
It was a show for the masses, not a show for the diehards.
Earlier, openers Nahko and Medicine for the People played to an enthusiastic early crowd. Their sound was confusing, starting off folky and quickly turning into heavy rock, with trumpet and electric violin and lyrics about God, Indigenous people and “peace in America.” I do think these sounds and ideas can converge, they just didn’t for this band on this night.
music@nowtoronto.com | @checkoutrach
