Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at Zach Bryan’s concert at the MetLife Stadium on July 20th to perform ‘Atlantic City’ with the singer-songwriter.
Over the weekend, Bryan played three huge shows at the 82,500-capacity stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and on the final night, unveiled the state’s favourite son to a raucous ovation from the mammoth crowd.
For the performance, they were also joined by Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill on acoustic guitar, whose band had supported Bryan at the three shows. The Front Bottoms also opened for the Oklahoman at the MetLife.
When introducing his special guests to the New Jersey faithful, Bryan described Followill as the “sweetest man I’ve ever met” and labelled Springsteen as “one of the greatest men to ever exist, a New Jersey native, Mr Bruce Springsteen”.
Springsteen later reappeared at the end of the set during the encore for the closing track, ‘Revival’, which he previously performed the same song with Bryan at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn last year. They also collaborated on ‘Sandpaper’, which appeared on Bryan’s most recent album, The Great American Bar Scene.
During a conversation between the pair in Rolling Stone, Bryan explained why Springsteen is a musical “hero” to him, stating, “I don’t want to be a country musician. Everyone calls me it. I want to be a songwriter, and you’re quintessentially a songwriter. No one calls Bruce Springsteen — hate to use your name in front of you — but no one calls Bruce Springsteen a freaking rock musician, which you are one, but you’re also an indie musician, you’re also a country musician.”
He added: “You’re all these things encapsulated in one man. And that’s what songwriting is.”
Although Bryan, who reportedly sold his back catalogue for $350 million earlier this year, has reduced his touring schedule, he’s played a series of huge shows this summer, including two performances at BST Hyde Park in London and three dates at Phoenix Park in Dublin.
