Last Night: Zac Brown Band at the Woodlands

Photos by Marco Torres

​Aftermath has heard a decent amount of entertaining segues at concerts. Most concert segues are awkward and some are funny, but this one from Zac Brown's last night was the most country shit we've ever heard: "Sometimes you have to fight the chicken when you're a man."

At first we thought it was a backwards, pseudo-sexual Georgia turn of phrase, but then the Zac Brown Band began playing "Sic Em On A Chicken" and the crowd joined in screaming out, "Sic em on a chicken and watch them feathers fly!" That's the best way to describe last night at The Woodlands. It was southern rock at its most country fried.

Opener Sonia Leigh.

​We got to the pavilion in time to catch opener Sonia Leigh, who reminded us alot of Jana Hunter and a little of Joan Jett. She has a husky, alto voice that sounds like she had too much gin the night before. Leigh sang a few songs about love, loss, and whiskey, which was the running theme of the night thanks to the sponsor of the tour, Jack Daniels. At least the sponsor was content-appropriate.

Zac Brown Band came on stage around 9 p.m. and opened with their summer single, "Keep Me In Mind" from the band's second studio album. We could tell by the way the lady next to us was swinging her ponytail that their fan base is a unique strain of country music lover.

We found out that the group is actually less bluegrass country and more jam band country. During "It's Not OK," bassist John Hopkins talked his way through the lyrics like Charlie Daniels in "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." Fiddler Jimmy De Martini got his time to shine in a nearly 2 minute long solo. It felt like a hoedown.

After "It's Not OK", the guys introduced a totally different type of song, something that reminded us of a '90s country ballad by George Strait or Alan Jackson. We found out later that Jackson contributed guest vocals on the ballad, "As She's Walking Away." They also all won a Grammy for it earlier this year.

ZBB continued with another love song called "Free" and we watched the couple in front of us start to slow dance. We sipped our friend's Diet Pepsi as if we were getting a show inside of a show.