Ascendant country-rock superstar Zach Bryan will be on his massive Quittin Time tour for most of this year, and it represents one more step in a truly meteoric rise. Given how unknown Bryan was just a couple of years ago, it’s been striking to see this guy move to playing ramshackle singalongs about flawed people in arenas and stadiums. It seems positively Springsteenian. Last night, Bryan made the connection real, bringing Bruce Springsteen onstage at his Brooklyn show.
Last night was the first show of Zach Bryan’s two-night stand at the Barclays Center. The Quittin Time tour has only been happening for a few weeks now, but he already brought out Kacey Musgraves to sing their chart-topping duet “I Remember Everything” at his Chicago tour opener. A couple of weeks ago, Bryan debuted the still-unreleased song “Sandpaper” in Newark. During the first encore of last night’s show, Bruce Springsteen came to the stage, and he and Bryan sang the song as a duet. Bryan was nervous enough to flub one of his own lyrics. Springsteen stayed onstage for Bryan’s traditional show closer “Revival,” too. Earlier in the night, Maggie Rogers came onstage to sing “Dawns,” the duet that came out last year, and she also returned to the stage for “Revival.”
Zach Bryan wore an old Springsteen concert shirt for the whole show, and Rolling Stone reports that he came onstage to “Johnny 99,” but Springsteen’s appearance still came as a surprise. (Springsteen’s album Nebraska is apparently in the air right now; Jeremy Allen White is reportedly in talks to play Springsteen in a new Nebraska movie.) Springsteen is playing some of the same venues as Zach Bryan this year; he’s now back on tour after a peptic ulcer forced him to cancel some of last year’s dates with the E Street Band. Springsteen played San Diego two nights earlier, and he comes to San Francisco tonight, so that Zach Bryan duet probably required significant air travel. Watch some videos from last night’s show below.
@zachbryanarchive Zach Bryan performs ‘Sandpaper’ with Bruce Springsteen LIVE in Brooklyn! 🤯 #ZachBryan ♬ original sound – Zach Bryan Archive
