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Zac Brown Band Fans Sound Off On Underwhelming ‘Love & Fear’ Las Vegas Residency Show: “His Ego Is Bigger Than The Sphere Screen”
Fans of the Zac Brown Band have been voicing their displeasure with the Las Vegas Sphere shows online.
The “Love & Fear” residency in Las Vegas, Nevada is finally here. Zac Brown and his band lined up the release of their new album (of the same name) with the beginning of their run of shows at the Sphere on December 5. This past weekend was the opening weekend of the residency, and the Zac Brown Band still has shows on December 12 and 13 and January 9 and 10.
The first two shows had some mixed reviews online, to say the least.
If you are an artist that spent 18 months preparing for the Sphere show (and millions upon millions of dollars), that’s not what you want to hear. But Zac Brown had some grandiose ideas with what he could do in the “Love and Fear” realm of things, and said in an interview prior to the residency that fans would experience “jump scare” moments if they choose to attend:
“We’re also telling a story. It’ll be the first of it’s kind in that scenario. The title, ‘Love and Fear’, you can boil most of your decisions in your life based on one of those two things. I try not to base my decisions on fear, but on the love of doing something and believing that it’s a worthy cause.
The juxtaposition that we get to create in the content of being able to be there. Every one of the human emotions, we’re gonna try to pull on that string. There’s horror, jump scare moments going on to soaring, beautiful things. A rise and fall of tension and release, kind of like the storms we all go through in life.”
Some of those “horror” moments have actually come off as “satanic,” which hasn’t been great for the PR side of Zac Brown’s Love & Fear residency.
And besides that problematic component, fans are also saying that the shows haven’t had much flow or rhythm to them. To be clear, no one is complaining about the stunning visuals of the Sphere – but that’s to be expected with the state-of-the-art venue. What people are really nitpicking is the lack of energy that seems to be in the building throughout.
One fan named Aaron Gordon, a self-proclaimed die-hard fan and someone who’s been to other shows at the venue, gave this scathing review online, saying:
“As a diehard Zac Brown Band fan and a Sphere addict, we went in READY for mind-blowing greatness. What we got was a spiritual retreat we didn’t sign up for. The Sphere was 10 out of 10, as always. Pure visual crack! Insane as ever. Zac Brown played only a handful of hits and then treated us to six songs from an album that literally dropped yesterday!
The vibe was less Vegas party, more Tony Robbins meets Mel Robbins with a side of Grateful Dead jam session. Very few people dancing. Dead energy upon leaving. If that’s your thing, cool. But if you’re expecting an Eagles/Chesney/Backstreet Boys-level Sphere throw down… this wasn’t it. Very disappointing.”
In the Zac Brown Band’s defense, they are obviously going to play some new songs when their residency is named after the brand new album that just dropped along with it. You can’t really complain about that.
But to hear that the energy was lacking is definitely concerning. Others backed up Gordon’s commentary and view on the Sphere show with much of the same – low energy, no one dancing, and people seated for most (if not all) of the concert. Another critique seems to be the amount of voice overs from Zac,
“That show he did last night needed to be a smaller more intimate setting with just him and his guitar telling his story. The sphere was not the place as everyone was amped up to party and sing along in what could have been a magical experience for all. I get what he was trying to do but it wasn’t the venue for it.”
“I was there Friday for opening night and it was lackluster for sure and mind blowing that nobody was up dancing.”
“We felt so disappointed night one. I only found rave reviews online, but the chatter after the show was similar to those here. We wondered if he would feel the vibe, or if he cared. The energy was low, lots of dead time, and most of the graphics he chose felt like screen savers.”
“I was yawning throughout the concert. He killed it the first two times I saw him. This was lack luster. A bunch of lame songs for me.”
“I absolutely agree. I said a lot of the same things to my husband. I cant believe how many people were sitting down! I was sad that the party would get started only to be followed up with something slow or a voice over or something new I couldn’t sing to! I love Zac Brown Band and have been to many concerts and that was what I was expecting.”
“We were there on the 5th… I live in Las Vegas so I’ve been there previously. Personally, I think any show at the sphere is an experience, but I do agree with the consensus that his ego was almost not contained therein and way too many unknown songs. Also, there has been some criticism about his demonic imagery.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Some of it was good, but most was like being in a therapy session. And the demonic nature of so much of it. He ruined what should have been a great show. Refunds??”
“I sat close to the band, because I am a huge fan, and was pretty overwhelmed by all the visuals. I enjoyed his hits but totally agree about the music from his new album, that I hadn’t had time hear. Wish I would have gone in January to know the songs.”
“This show was awful! His ego is bigger than the sphere itself. We couldn’t stop talking about how disappointing it was.”
“I couldn’t agree more… We were there last night as well… It was boring and horrible… The complete opposite of Kenny Chesney atmosphere”
“I was there as well. Couldn’t agree more. His multiple 10minute breaks for outfit changes were super fun.”
“I agree. Loved his story, but too many wardrobe changes and not enough music.”
“I completely agree. I was so disappointed with the graphics. And all the dead space. Not interactive. No energy. Just eh.”
“We left early. I thought maybe we were the only ones who left disappointed”
“I could not have said that better myself! Totally agree!”
“If someone has not experienced the Sphere .. they could look past the lack of song choices .. but as a fan.. I was disappointed. Wish he would have played more of his traditional hits.”
“I was very excited for the show and was hugely disappointed. His ego is bigger than the Sphere screen. I get he wanted to tell his story but he didn’t need to do a prerecorded voice over throughout the show to spend 14 minutes telling everyone a bunch of information that was all about him and his gigantic ego.”
“We were there too and were pretty confused by the theme…or lack thereof. The song choices felt a bit underwhelming and the visuals were all over the place. I’m not saying it wasn’t good…it just wasn’t great, as we expected.”
And it goes on like that for a bit on the viral post.
And to be fair to Zac, I think he saw this is as a gigantic canvas to illustrate some kind of artistic vision, completely unique to the The Sphere. This wasn’t just a Zac Brown Band concert. But based on the commentary, it sounds like all the voice overs, storytelling, and dead space didn’t quite land, knowing the Zac Brown catalog, it makes sense… Zac Brown is known for hits like “Chicken Fried,” “Knee Deep,” ” Toes,” etc…. people are dropping a grand or more on tickets to have a good time in Las Vegas, not get a peek inside Zac Brown’s diary.
All I can say is go see it for yourself and make your own judgements, but be warned… you better dig into the new album.
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The post Zac Brown Band Fans Sound Off On Underwhelming ‘Love & Fear’ Las Vegas Residency Show: “His Ego Is Bigger Than The Sphere Screen” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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