Arts & Entertainment
Zac Brown Band Review: Fenway Rocks With Classics, Covers
The crowd was singing along to "Chicken Fried" one minute and the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" the next.
BOSTON, MA – The Zac Brown Band rolled into Boston Friday night for the first of two shows at Fenway Park, rocking the sold-out crowd with a blend of original hits and covers both new and old. With an assist from openers Darrell Scott and the Mark O'Connor Band, who wouldn't have trouble headlining Fenway on their own, the show was one of the more authentic country experiences.
It opened with a set from Scott, a singer-songwriter whose songs like "Long Time Gone" and "It's A Great Day To Be Alive" have reached mainstream popularity as covers, and Mark O'Connor, whose gene pool has a monopoly on musical talent. O'Connor's band is comprised of his son Forrest on mandolin, daughter Maggie on fiddle and vocals and daughter-in-law Kate Lee O'Connor on fiddle and vocals.
The band's chemistry is so infectious it took a few songs to realize Scott was a separate act altogether. They played a combined set of rollicking fiddle-centric numbers, slow ballads and some of Scott's better-known songs.
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It was an excellent appetizer for the Zac Brown Band, which has perhaps been unfairly pigeonholed because "Chicken Fried" and "Toes" are staples at frat parties and tailgates. The over two hour-long set allowed the band to submerge itself in its catalog, hitting out favorites like "Keep Me In Mind," "Knee Deep" and "Homegrown" but also slowing it down for ballads like "Sweet Annie."
They've got a knack for covers, peppering their set with everything from Kings of Leon to the Beatles and closing the show with a one-two-three punch of "Shipping Up to Boston," "Sabotage" and "Enter Sandman" during the encore. The performance was light on showmanship, but the music is so good live that additional frills might do more harm than good.
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Friday night was a no-nonsense trip through country and rock hits. The band powered through song after song, occasionally stopping for a beer or to salute the military during the third verse of "Chicken Fried." And when it's a group like the Zac Brown Band, sometimes that's all you need.
Photo by Alex Newman (Patch Staff)
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