The Zac Brown Band are no strangers to life on the road, as they have logged countless miles in countless cities over the past decade, rarely getting a chance to slow down. The past few years have seen back to back dates, or three nights in Boston’s hallowed Fenway Park, but this year the band had something different up their sleeve, a four night residency at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion on the banks of Lake Winnipesaukee, to open the venue’s 2017 concert season with a bang, and sticking to their guns, promising to have a different setlist each and every night.
Darrell Scott began the night, an American singer-songwriter who in fact has roots to the area, living on the lake for 25 years. After a few originals some familiar faces started to appear, during ‘Down To The River,’ a song off of his latest album, Jimmy De Martini and John Driskell Hopkins appeared alongside Scott, the fiddle and bass players from the Zac Brown Band, and with each song brought alongside another member of the band, until finally Zac joined his bandmates and Scott onstage to finish his performances with hits that Scott had penned for others, finishing with a hit for the Dixie Chicks ‘Long Time Gone,’ and a cover of ‘Up On Cripple Creek,’ made famous by The Band.
After a wild applause for Darrell Scott, he left his buddies the Zac Brown Band on stage, as it was now their time to shine for the sold out Saturday night crowd. A band know for their wild onstage cover songs, they wasted no time, opening the night with an original ‘Uncaged,’ but quickly followed with Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir,’ and crowd favorite, The Charlie Daniels Band’s ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia.’ “Welcome to night number two, it feels good, what a beautiful day, we got on the boat today, caught some beautiful trout on your beautiful lake, and we’re feeling good!” – a welcoming roar echoed back to Zac, and to everybody’s surprise began playing some of the bands most popular songs, ‘Keep Me In Mind,’ and ‘Toes,’ with the choruses being sung along loud enough to hear clear across the lake, mixed in with songs from their latest album, ‘Family Table,’ and ‘Two Places at One Time.’
Clay Cook, an unbelievable talent on his own, took his seat at the piano, as the band began another classic, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ and staying through the final keys to begin another crowd favorite, ‘Colder Weather.’ Music fans worldwide were suffering a loss that day, and nobody in the pavilion was hurting more than the members of the Zac Brown Band, who also lost a friend that day. “I want to dedicate this song to one of our biggest influences, he passed away today, and there is nobody that will ever be able to sing like he could. I’m proud to have been able to call him a friend, Rest in peace, Mr. Gregg Allman”. The crowd applause grew louder and louder, as they began a medley of Gregg Allman’s finest, ‘One Way Out,’ ‘Midnight Rider,’ and ‘Whipping Post,’ to which southern rocker himself Clay Cook dedicated a breath taking guitar solo. “We Love you Gregg, thank you for all you did for us,” echoed out of a mourning Zac Brown, and at that point the band disappeared for an intermission.
The second half of the show quickly began, and took off with full force, delivering songs new and old, all to the crowds delight. ‘Castaway,’ ‘Lovin’ You Easy,’ ‘Jump Right In,’ and ‘Knee Deep,’ were all mixed amongst new songs, ‘My Old Man,’ ‘Roots,’ and ‘The Real Thing,’ and we were even greeted by a second appearance from opener Darrell Scott, joining Zac for a performance of a song he wrote for Travis Tritt, ‘It’s a Great Day to Be Alive.’ ‘Tomorrow Never Comes,’ and ‘Chicken Fried,’ concluded the night, or which to Zac Brown declared, “We ain’t done yet!” as the band rushed back to conclude the night with a touching cover of John Prine’s ‘All The Best,’ found on his new album, and a hard rock fueled rendition of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman.’ The Zac Brown Band thrilled Gilford, NH for all four nights of their residency there, and thankfully for those not able to be there, you can find them again in New England once more this summer, Thursday, July 6th at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, CT. Tickets can be found here.
Main Photo Credit: Bank of NH Pavilion. To see more photos, click here.