There are meteoric rises and then there’s the Zach Bryan story. From a Dublin debut at the Helix in April 2023 to three nights in Phoenix Park in the summer of 2025 is quite the step up, even in the age of TikTok’s career advancement ecosystem – something that the singer has undoubtedly benefited from (I first heard him amongst a wall of drill played by my then 19 year old son). Throw in country music’s re-emergence as a commercial force and Ireland’s own particular love affair with the genre and perhaps his trajectory isn’t so surprising after all. It is, though, astonishing.

Other things have changed in the past couple of years of course and the blue collar US culture that spawned him has shifted drastically. While Bryan (ex-military to boot) doesn’t address politics specifically – to do so would probably cause a Dixie Chicks rumpus to the nth degree – the night is noticeably light on the kind of references you might have expected. The Star Spangled Banner guitar intro is replaced by a distorted ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ riff and the America of which he sings is the one of faith, hopeless romantics, the marginalised, friendship and nostalgia. He released a live album called All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster. Bruce Springsteen is an advocate, which really tells you all you need to know. The most classic American thing we spot all night are the cans of Budweiser onstage, itself a loaded gesture following the 2023 right wing boycott.

On stage, he’s a warmly engaging figure. The ‘aw shucks’ humility is a touch overplayed perhaps, but he has an easy going charm about him and is generous to those around – support act Noeline Hoffman joins him to perform her own ‘Purple Gas’ and there’s a tale of sharing a jail cell with the guitarist from the Turnpike Troubadours (the tour’s other guests) before they started making music.

That spirit extends to his huge band, who bring to mind the post Seeger Sessions incarnation of the E Street Band and are immense fun. A world away from the staid session player approach of some there’s always something going on – from the hipster brass players and joyous presence of Read ‘Two Show’ Connolly to the string section who vibe consistently, even when (especially when) not performing. Just when we’ve decided that, yes, the cowboy hatted guitarist Noah Le Gros is wearing a (gothic metal band) Type O Negative t-shirt, a crew member jumps on the drums wearing a (British death metal band) Bolt Thrower one. You don’t get that with Nathan Carter.

Together they transform the Bryan studio experience and prove that Glastonbury really did miss a trick not grabbing them for a headliner. This isn’t a set built around two or three big hits but delivers in depth, notably the Bon Iver and Maggie Rogers collaborations ‘Boys Of Faith’ and ‘Dawns’, as well as the beautiful ‘Pink Skies’ and ‘28’. There’s time too for a Warren Zevon cover and the bold move of unreleased song ‘Plastic Cigarettes’, which he has two runs at.

In fact, there’s a LOT of time. At over two hours it’s a long night and the enthusiasm of the young skewing crowd notably dips, given that a large proportion of the 60,000 will have had to experience the show through the side stage screens. Ironic really. It would be generous to call the encore clamored for but the resulting 20 minute version of ‘Revival’ is a blast, the band joined by their supports, more men in cowboy hats and Bryan’s dad. For all the times they’ve played it, there’s a ramshackle chaos and only the hard hearted would fail to be swept along. If this is, as suggested, the singer’s last ever tour (at the age of 29), he’s done himself and those that catapulted him to this point proud.