I know that I’ve been terrible about posting lately, but life has been super busy. When I’m not working (I spent two days in Oregon this week), I’m running (it was peak week – I knocked out 40 miles, including a 22 miler yesterday!). I know, excuses, excuses.

I did manage to fit in a concert this week – I entered a raffle at work and won tickets to see the Zac Brown Band in the Intel Suite! Obviously, I love country music, but this went so far beyond my expectations.

I’ll start with the bad part of the show… the opening act, Niko Moon. He even has a crappy web page. He’s a rocker, but not like country rock. Rock rock. Which really felt odd – in fact, there were even some boos from the crowd (who came decked out in plaid, cowboy hats, and cowboy boots). You could hardly understand the words to his songs and it completely rubbed me the wrong way.

Zac Brown, on the other hand, was phenomenal. I always judge a band by how well they play live. And man, can they play live. His band includes seven members (two drummers/percussionists, two guitarists, a violinist, a bassist, and of course, Zac Brown). Each of them is absolutely amazing at their instrument and almost all of them stepped out to play something that wasn’t their main instrument. Mid-show they did a great acoustic set that showcased their absolutely perfect harmonies. Some of the jamming they did was spectacular – not only did they play like crazy, but you felt like they were seriously having fun. And like you were a part of their jam session.

Not only did I love their music, but they did some amazing covers including “Enter Sandman” (seriously, a country band that kicks ass on a Metallica song?!), the Eagles’ “Seven Bridges Road”, and James Tayor’s “Frozen Man”.

However, their encore was quite possibly the best encore I’ve ever seen a band do. They came out and started with “Uncaged” from their new album by the same title. As that song drew to an end, it just sort of morphed into Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”. Like an amazing version of it. From there it morphed into one of the fastest, most impressive versions of Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down To Georgia” that I’ve ever heard. It was absolutely amazing.

I will definitely be seeing the Zac Brown Band again – they’re like the Dave Matthews Band but countrified. If they come to a city near you, it’s definitely worth the price of a ticket!