By Sophia Doan
Driving down 101, excitement surged through our car, full with cowboy boots, blaring country music, and a sense of urgency to arrive on time. Pulling near Golden Gate Park, my friends and I walked into the closed off section, immediately faced with thousands of people eagerly waiting for Zach Bryan to arrive. Pushing our way to the front, we had to stand and wait four hours, continuously shoved by people as we attempted to stand our ground and keep our spot. At 5:45 Kings of Leon appeared on the stage. Starting off with classic hits like “Use Somebody”, they later brought on Zach Bryan to debut their new song “We’re Onto Something.” After their set, we waited for several more hours, getting packed in by thousands of people. Dehydration and hunger began to set in as we started to make friends with random strangers in the crowd. Finally at 7:25 the string lights lowered, we heard the faint whispers of the harmonica, and Zach Bryan appeared. Classically beginning with “Overtime”, throughout the night he played hits such as “God Speed”, “Fifth of May”, “Oklahoma Smokeshow”, “Dawns”, “East Side of Sorrow” and “Something in the Orange”, among others. As the performance went on he surprised the crowd by bringing out Noeline Hoffman and Gabrielle Rose to perform “Purple Gas” and “Madeline”, respectively. To end the night, Bryan performed a 20-minute rendition of “Revival” showcasing each member of the band accompanied by fireworks. Throughout the night I danced, sobbed, found random friends, and created memories that will last a lifetime. Zach Bryan is such a wonderful performer, and I would thoroughly recommend
going to his concerts.
