Zac Brown Band at the Hollywood Bowl

Country fans, prepare to be jealous.

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the Hollywood Bowl for the first time and see Zac Brown Band's debut performance at this historic site. Mike's cousin, music reviewer for the Orange County Register, was able to score an extra ticket for the event, (thank you, thank you, thank you, Ben!!) and Mike generously let me take it. It was AMAZING.

First, let's start with the venue. It is epic. Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elton John, Cher, The Beatles, Pavarrotti and many others have performed here. FDR, Fred Astair, and Mikhail Baryshnikov have graced the stage, too. It sits less than a mile from the Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater in the heart of Hollywood. Last night it was a sold-out crowd of about 17,000 people, and I was sitting close enough to be able to comment on the shoes of lead singer of the opening act, Blackberry Smoke.

The concert itself was awesome. Blackberry Smoke, a southern rock band based in Atlanta, opened the show. These beard-sporting guys were a throw-back to Skynard and ZZ Topp, complete with bell-bottoms, platforms, and the 70's electric organ that is iconic of that era. I was totally digging them.

Zac Brown and company came on shortly thereafter and rocked my world. They played all their hits which I thoroughly enjoyed, but my favorite parts of the night were when they totally rocked out. You will have to read the review to figure out where and when they did this because I lost track; but there were multiple times throughout the 2+ straight hours that they played that they just went nuts jamming. Clay Cook, one of their guitarists, was phenomenal. They also played a few covers. One of my favorites was "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (Zac Brown is also from Georgia). I've probably heard that song several hundred times in my life, both the original by the Charlie Daniels Band and other live renditions. But I have never heard a band play it as fast as they did last night. It was crazy. And crazy good. One of my other faves of the evening was "Isn't She Lovely" along with John Mayer's "Neon," who also happens to be another Georgia artist. It was sick.

I was very sad that Mike couldn't go, too. I know he would've liked it. But I can't lie - I'm really happy that I had the chance to go. I've promised that no matter what he gets first dibs on the next concert.