Zach Bryan at Moda Center Was Sad-Boy Country at Its Finest

Mid-concert, it’s probably not worth fantasizing about other venues where you could be seeing the artist, right? But the designers of Zach Bryan’s Quittin’ Time Tour that rolled through Moda Center for two nights this week got us halfway there with the evocative string lights hanging from rafters around the stage, befitting a backyard country barbecue. But the reality is that Bryan, 28, was the third-highest earning touring musician of summer 2024, behind only Taylor Swift and Coldplay, according to Forbes, grossing $318 million—arenas are all that can hold his fans.

This may be surprising to anyone who doesn’t mess with country music, but the Oklahoma-raised Navy vet with the intricate storyteller lyrics, well-worn acoustic guitar around his neck and an angry edge to his voice is the It Boy of the genre.

“Thank you, Portland. I don’t deserve any of it,” he said between songs, one of many gracious asides of the night. (Stage banter got justifiably snippier when a fan through package of Zyns at him: “Let’s not be dicks, huh? You like stopping concerts?”) His stage-presence was hard-working and wisely coached-up to mention the name of the home city frequently and make prolonged eye-contact towards Moda’s rafters. All the better to charm all the 20-somethings who came in their rodeo best, with short denim skirts, makeshift handkerchief tube tops and even cowboy boots and hats for those who wanted to really nail the look.

The best one-two punch of the night—“best” meaning most emotionally devastating, as Zach Bryan is sad-boy country at its absolute finest right now—came toward the end with “Something in the Orange” followed by “Hey Driver.” The lady in front of me having a spiritual experience in her white leather cowboy boots could only hastily wipe the tears off her cheeks between the two songs.

The concert didn’t go quite as well for opener Matt Maeson, who took the stage solo with an acoustic guitar instead of bringing up a full band. It was a missed opportunity for the supremely talented artist, whose biggest hits “Cringe” and “Hallucinogenics,” played on repeat when they came out in 2016. It would have been nice to have team of musicians behind him there to crank up the drama on those and his promising newer material.

Bryan had no such difficulties. Is there a better night of the year to hear “Pink Skies” than Thanksgiving Eve, historically the time that everyone comes to their hometown to make bad decisions with would-be high-school flames in the neighborhood bar? No. The song is a bittersweet but propulsive romp about kids coming home and the pain of time passing. And the imagery is where Bryan earns his laurels: “The kids are in town for a funeral/And the grass all smells the same/As the day you broke your arm swingin’.”

Fine, I will not continue to wish that I was seeing Zach Bryan in a bar in Texas before he released “Something in the Orange” and shot up to the country music stratosphere or—swoon!—in his Navy barracks just noodling around on his guitar with his buddies. Moda Center is the venue his talent deserves.