Las Vegas Weekly

January 24, 2012 · 11:59 PM

Photos: Cold beer on a Friday night with Zac Brown Band at Mandalay

By Don Chareunsy

Zac Brown Band at Mandalay Bay Events Center on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/DonoghuePhotography.com

By Don Chareunsy

When it comes right down to it, country stars the Zac Brown Band are a jam band. And last Friday night at Mandalay Bay Events Center, they were a jam band who rocked the stage and pleased more than 9,000 fans.

Forget that they’re one of country’s most popular acts. Forget that they’ve won awards. Forget that they’ve performed for the troops. The Zac Brown Band are amazing musicians, and their skills were on full display. Zac Brown, who could pass for Jack Black and Zach Galifianakis’ brother, is largely overlooked as a vocalist, and it’s quite possible that he didn’t hit one false note all night long. (His first words to the audience: “Awww, Vegas!”)

After opening acts Sonia Leigh and Nic Cowan, Friday night’s ZBB set list of more than 20 songs: “Keep Me in Mind”; “Knee Deep”; It’s Not OK”; “I Play the Road,” in which four vertical split screens were used to great echoing effect; “As She’s Walking Away,” in which harmonizing was heavenly; new song “No Hurry,” just shipped to radio; the father-to-son song “Highway 20 Ride”; “Whiskey’s Gone”; and “Quiet Your Mind” (Sometimes it’s not what you hear but rather what you don’t hear. … Enjoy the ride!)

Plus, Van Morrison’s “Free” / “Into the Mystic”; the reggae-inspired “Where the Boat Leaves From” / “Crazy Love” / “Islands in the Stream” (the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton classic); Charlie Daniels Band’s classic “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” in which ZBB received a rousing standing ovation; new song “Day I Die” co-written with Cowan; “Who Knows,” with an extended guitar-saxophone duel; “Sic ’em on a Chicken;” “Toes”; and audience sing-along “Make This Day,” which included Brown rapping(!) and a rapper joining ZBB onstage.

The encore: extended drum solos, a cover of the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See,” “Cold Weather,” “America the Beautiful” and “Chicken Fried,” their most popular hit to date. The evening’s other highlight, along with ZBB’s solid performance: My cowboy-shirt-wearing guest’s song-and-dance to “Chicken Fried” in the lobby. Cold beer on a Friday night, indeed.

Thanks to Tom Donoghue for his fabulous photo gallery. ZBB, who performed at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel in March 2010, returns to town April 1 for Fan Jam at Mandalay Bay that runs concurrently with the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Don Chareunsy is editor of VegasDeLuxe.com and arts and entertainment editor of LasVegasSun.com.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

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