It's an All-Night Revival!

If you had asked me just about a year ago if I like country music, I would’ve told you that you’re crazy for even considering that fact that I might. I listen to a weird variety of music, but country music surely wasn’t appearing on my playlists at all. Come summertime I started playing more golf with my friend, Ethan. He played me a couple of songs, and I was shocked how much I actually enjoyed them. I remember thinking the storytelling was so different from what I had ever heard before. I’m a sucker for a good storytelling song. The songs he played weren’t incredibly country. They didn’t have that southern twang or cheesy theme of dogs, trucks, and women. Instead, they were sweet love songs or sad ballads full of loss. They were relatable and made you envious. The songs Ethan played for me were all played by Zach Bryan. I know nowadays he is world-famous, but I had never heard of him before. I vaguely remember my other friends playing a song or two, but I zoned out because it was a “country” song. I was intrigued to listen to more songs, so when we went out golf ball hunting I just played his discography on shuffle. I started playing songs for my dad, and he fell in love pretty quickly. For the rest of the summer, Zach’s songs made it into my rotation of songs. He got a section in my playlist and one in my dad’s as well. When I first got to FIT, Zach’s self-titled album was just about to be released. I remember not feeling too great about being away from home for the first time, and his album coming out reminded me of a lot of the great times on the golf course with my friends and my dad. When he announced his tour for 2024, it was hard not to notice that he had two shows in Brooklyn. They happened to be during my spring break, which I originally thought was a curse but turned out to be a blessing. Fast-forwarding all the way to this past Wednesday night, it was time to head to the Barclays Center to see Zach Bryan in concert. Instead of going somewhere for break, I decided to come home for a few days, go back to the city to see Zach, and then turn around and come right back home. Bella, my dad, and I headed down to the city on the train Wednesday morning. We didn’t really have a plan for before the concert, but we ended up just walking around and shopping. We walked all the way up to the Ralph Lauren flagship store and looked around for a while. That place is magical. I could live in a place like that. All those gorgeous clothes and wonderfully designed rooms. It was great. As my dad and I walked into Ralph Lauren, Bella met her boyfriend and departed from us. We had to haul ass back to my dorm to drop off our stuff before the show. We ordered a Lyft and headed towards Brooklyn. I liked taking a car there. I’ve only ever taken the subway. We knew Zach came out around nine, and we didn’t really care about seeing the openers. During our ride, I did some sleuthing online. I found a potentially leaked setlist, and it looked beautiful. There were rumors of a Bruce Springsteen appearance too. We got out of our Lyft and scrambled to find a bathroom. We ended up at a perfectly placed Target. I love Target, but that bathroom had bad personal hygiene. It smelled like a mix of defecation and death. Not pleasant. We finally made it to the arena about an hour before Zach came out. I always feel like anticipation grows the closer it gets to showtime, and every minute starts moving slower. It felt like the longest ten minutes before the show. As Zach walked out to a Bruce Springsteen song and was wearing a “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” cutoff T-shirt, it felt like the rumors were true. The Boss was going to make an appearance at our show. As Zach moved down his perfectly curated setlist, playing some of my favorites, he reached "Oklahoma Smokeshow," the first song Ethan ever played for me. I noticed a girl with short hair standing near the stairs to the stage. I saw "Dawns" was up next and started to get really excited. I was as giddy as a little schoolgirl. Was Maggie Rogers going to get on stage? Was she going to play her part of "Dawns"? I started texting my mom and sisters. I really love Maggie Rogers. She's so unique and does her very own special thing. I’m so excited for her new album to come out in April. Eventually, she got up, and I started screaming. I’m not going to lie, the videos I have are slightly embarrassing. “Maggie! Maggie!” I screamed. The rest of the show was fantastic. Zach ended the show and swiftly walked off the stage. No Bruce Springsteen and no Revival. What the fuck, Zach? I knew an encore was likely, but we thought something happened to Bruce. As the band made their way out to the stage, it became clear they were getting ready for something. Zach started to introduce Bruce, and he made his way to the stage. They played a song together, and it was really cool to see. My dad was telling me he saw Bruce Springsteen when he was a ninth-grader over forty years ago. It was awesome to see him with my dad by my side. Revival was the last song of the night, and it was by far the coolest ending to a concert I have ever seen. It was a twelve-minute ordeal of singing, dancing, and celebrating. Bruce and Maggie both came on stage and sang the whole song with Zach. Maggie’s energy was incredible. The way she moved was electric. She looked so happy. My dad and I sang along the whole show and had a blast. I’m going to write a part two for the rest of our night because it became a nice adventure back to FIT. I had a really amazing time, and huge thank you to my dad for taking me. Love and thank you so much, Smokes! Happy Friday, everyone!