Country star breaks Intrust Bank Arena attendance record previously held by Metallica
A 27-year-old singer who skyrocketed to fame with the help of his young fan base now holds a record in Wichita.
On Sunday, Zach Bryan — an Oklahoma native who amassed a following after his ballad “Something in the Orange” became a TikTok sensation — broke the Intrust Bank Arena attendance record, which had been held by metal band Metallica since March 2019. Metallica drew 15,690 fans to the 13-year-old venue, but Bryan drew 16,172.
Not only that, but Bryan also broke the arena’s record for highest-grossing food and beverage sales, previously set at last year’s Morgan Wallen concert, and for the highest-grossing merchandise sales, previously set at that Metallica show, arena officials said on Monday.
The only way to get crowds — and sales — that big at Wichita’s arena is to play a show in-the-round, meaning that the stage is in the center of the floor and every seat is available. That’s what Metallica did, and the arena managed to squeeze even more fans in for Bryan, a Navy veteran and Nashville-outsider who’s distanced himself from that scene. (And no, he’s not related to Luke Bryan.)
Sunday’s show in Wichita was similar to the other sold-out shows Bryan has been performing across the country as part of his “Burn, Burn, Burn” tour: His fans, most ranging from teens to millennials, knew every word to every song and sang along at top volume.
Bryan, dressed simply in a race car T-shirt and black jeans, opened the show with “Open the Gate” from his 2022 album “American Heartbreak.”
He was joined on stage by a full band, which included a fiddle player, electric and steel guitar players, a drummer, a banjo player and, at one point, even a guy on trumpet.
As they tore through the rest of the 22-song set list, Bryan and his band members gamely traveled around the stage, trying to split their face time between all four sides of the arena.
Bryan, who exudes an “aw-shucks” personality, frequently checked in with the crowd to make sure it was still “feeling good.” He’d occasionally stepped away from the microphone to let the crowd sing the lyrics without his help, and it enthusiastically did so, especially on songs like “Dawn” and “Oklahoma Smokeshow.”
At one point, Bryan apologized to the crowd members for dragging them out on a Sunday night, adding that he hoped no one had to work tomorrow before launching into his song “Quittin’ Time.”
“I’ve been to Wichita three times in my life,” he said later. “I have family who lives here. I don’t know if they’re here tonight, but hopefully they are.”
Bryan perhaps got the biggest crowd reaction of the night for his hit “Something in the Orange,” a song that earlier this month set the record as the longest-charting country single for a male artist on Billboard’s Hot 100.
He also got a big reaction when he sang “I Remember Everything,” a song from his new self-titled album that was released on Friday. That song is a duet with country star Kacey Musgraves, but Bryan sang it on his own in Wichita.
“I”m going to sing a bunch of the new ones, and I hope you guys don’t hate me for it,” he said before also performing “El Dorado,” “Smaller Acts” and “Overtime.”
Bryan’s opening acts were JR Carroll and Charles Wesley Godwin, the latter of which Bryan joined onstage before his own set to help Godwin perform “Jamie” and a cover of “Take Me Home, Country Roads:
Zach Bryan setlist, Wichita
“Open the Gate”
“God Speed”
“Fifth of May”
“Highway Boys”
“Quittin’ Time”
“Tishomingo”
“Dawns”
“Oklahoma Smokeshow”
“The Good I’ll Do”
“Sweet DeAnn”
“Something in the Orange”
“Heavy Eyes”
“I Remember Everything”
“El Dorado”
“Smaller Acts”
“Overtime”
“Condemned”
“’68 Fastback”
“Snow”
“Heading South”
“Burn, Burn, Burn”
“Revival”
