Zac Brown Band's Southern Ground Tour

My good friend, Lindsay, from school, invited me to go see Zac Brown Band perform at the new Independence Events Center (this was the first event I believe at this new arena). Knowing that I’ve past up too many concerts before, I immediately said yes! So, two weeks ago, we met up after school with her daughter and five of her middle school buddies.
Needless to say, the concert was fantastic! I was very surprised that I even enjoyed as much as I did, even after standing all night on the floor! I knew I liked what little ZBB songs I’d heard on the radio, but I loved every song they performed, even the ones I’d never heard in my life (and there were plenty!)
(Levi Lowry above)
Because this was the Southern Ground Tour, ZBB had three other performers with them. Levi Lowry came out first and sang a few songs. I immediately became drawn to his sound because it felt so raw and full of emotion. The crowd seemed to really like him more than the other two openers because of his music. Now the third guy that came out, the crowd liked for a different reason—he was HOT! Nic Cowan looked nothing like a country singer, but he hails from Texas and has that southern drawl. He was making the women drool. No wonder the floor was wet and sticky by the end of the show. :) The only woman on tour, Sonja Leigh, sang in between the two guys. She had a rocker-grittiness to her voice, but she could sing. I liked her, but she was my least favorite among the opening acts. One part that I thought was cool was that Zac Brown (I did learn there is an actual Zac Brown in the Zac Brown Band!) himself came out and sang at times with each opener. Most “big name” singers don’t do that, but he seemed very down to earth and normal. He was just a country rocker with a guitar and a song, and he wanted to share his music with others.

One sour note of the evening was that there was a group of girls (I hate to use the term ladies or women because they certainly weren’t acting like any.) directly in front of us who were SOOOO drunk they could not stand up on their own. Two women danced with each other during most of the opening acts. One of them kept swaying and bumping into me. I’m not a confrontational person, but I’d had it at that point. I politely asked them to move up just a bit into some empty space in front of them. She ignored me, and the girl next to me jumped in and asked again. She still ignored me. Finally, I elbowed her in the back and pushed her forward. Both girls stumbled but didn’t say anything. Fast forward 15-20 minutes and ZBB is getting ready to come out. One girl looks like she is going to puke, one is holding her up, etc. Lindsay said something to the “leader” of the group, and 5 minutes later, they all left! The “leader” was pissed off at us, but we just said it was because of her group no one wanted to be around. Once they all left, we all enjoyed the show just a little bit more…
Zac Brown came out and rocked the crowd. The band performed for almost 3 hours! That is unheard of in the concert world I think. Most groups usually sing for MAYBE 1 ½ hours at the most?? ZBB did it from about 8:20 or so until almost 11:30! We definitely got our money’s worth of entertainment! They played everything from Bob Marley to America the Beautiful and country in between. Of course, “Chicken Fried” and “Toes” were two of the biggest hits with the crowd, and we all sang along to “Whatever it is”, but we also went nuts for their rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, the same tune they performed at the CMA’s just last week! Other songs I enjoyed were “Sic ‘em on a Chicken”, “Jolene”, and “Highway 20 Ride, but my new favorite song of ZBB is “Free”. It’s a beautiful country ballad about being free and going in whatever direction your life takes you. This song just really hit home for me after the turmoil of the past year.

After this show, I will definitely follow ZBB music. I’ve already downloaded their album, and I can’t wait to hear the next one! I just added 5 or 6 of ZBB songs to my playlist, so if you want to listen to a specific song, just scroll to the bottom and look at the end of the playlist. :)