If shows at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) by the Dave Matthews Band or Phish mark the unofficial kickoff to the Saratoga summer, Zac Brown Band‘s annual appearance there marks its unofficial close.
Whereas last summer, the band showed up on September 30, well after the racetrack crowds had packed up and left for the season, this year, ZBB showed up exactly one month earlier, on August 30, with the last, long weekend of racing still in sight. Smart move. The band, with Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real opening, showed up ready to rock. Blazing through a 28-song set, ZBB rocked a number of inventive cover songs, including Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” (you might remember this one from Isbell’s scorching set at the Palace Theatre last January); and a string in the five-song encore, including Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” (old standards you can hear on local classic rock station PYX 106.5, at least once or twice a day).
As he has all summer long, saratoga living‘s Francesco D’Amico has been hanging out in the pit, making everyone insanely jealous of his access to some of the biggest pop acts out there today. For more of D’Amico’s work from the SPAC/Live Nation summer slate, click here.