Zac Brown Band review

Zac Brown Band jam on hits and covers during polished RodeoHouston set

Spring break was in full effect this week on the NRG campus as amiable chamber of commerce weather blew through Houston. The grounds are experiencing a bit of an adrenaline hangover after this week’s run of Los Tigres Del Norte, Whiskey Myers, Bun B’s All-American Takeover, and Nickelback pulling in nearly 286,000 into NRG Stadium alone. Which makes the 70,095 people who showed up for tonight’s performance by Zac Brown Band seem relatively paltry.

We’ve talked a lot about attendance records lately in the modern rodeo era this week and the RodeoHouston website’s attendance logs are endlessly fascinating. Like, what happened in 2001 with only 1,382,183 people? Y’all had Destiny's Child, Diana Ross, Brooks & Dunn, and Duran Duran. According to a report at the time, low attendance was blamed on construction and traffic, presumably the construction of Reliant Stadium off Kirby and the METRORail taking shape off Fannin caused mild havoc.

It sounds awfully precious to say that the Zac Brown Band is the most jam band adjacent act that RodeoHouston will see, barring an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band which wouldn’t be too far-fetched if they stuck to compact versions of the hits. Full-scale Zac Brown Band shows are a much different beast, full of extended instrumental jams and even more adventurous covers in the mix. That’s not to say that ZBB shows at RodeoHouston are lacking, but the band on the open road with two and half hours or a venue curfew ahead of them as opposed to 45 minutes on the dirt are so very different.

Thursday night’s ZBB set started with a jaunty bluegrass-injected “Knee Deep” after the briefest of delays. Hey, there’s nine people in the band these days, including the recent induction of multi-instrumentalist Caroline Jones. She’s added another dimension to ZBB’s burlier output. “As She’s Walking Away” and its interlocking harmonies benefited the most from Jones’ touch.

The first cover of the night was the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” in southern-rock goth drag. The ZBB’s island-hopping “Toes” at one time had the band nearly-anointed as the next coming of Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, that is until Kenny Chesney made a sandy heel turn and hit the beach.

“We wanna do one for the cowboys,” said Brown, clad in his best honky tonk bouncer garb, plucking his way into Garth Brooks’ “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)”. The ZBB has always excelled at being the affable jukebox band at RodeoHouston. It wasn’t too long ago that they covered Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post”, and Van Halen’s “Panama” in this same spot.

Brown welcomed country-blues guitar slinger Marcus King onstage to slather some stadium-sized slide guitar on top of “Colder Weather” which — naturally — transitioned into the Eagles’ “Take it The Limit”.

King himself has an highly-anticipated Rick Rubin-produced album dropping on April 5. The first singles show King leaning into Americana and lush R&B with a specific fervor. He would be a welcome addition to my dream RodeoHouston 2025 bill, which already features a three-hour Billy Strings Saturday afternoon matinee.

We’re heading into the RodeoHouston homestretch with the Jonas Brothers on Friday night, Brad Paisley on Saturday afternoon, and Eric Church sending us home on Sunday after brunch.

Setlist

Knee Deep
Keep Me in Mind
As She’s Walking Away
No Hurry
Paint It Black
Toes
Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old
Free / Into The Mystic
Lovin You Is Easy
Homegrown
Same Boat
Colder Weather >> Take it To The Limit (with Marcus King)
America, The Beautiful >> Chicken Fried

Courtesy of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

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Concert News

Jack Johnson rides into Houston on surf-themed 2026 tour

Photo by Tahnei Roy

Jack Johnson will play at Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas on August 30, 2026.

Singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, known his for laidback surf-rock music, will embark on the SURFILMUSIC Tour in 2026, which will include a stop at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Friday, August 28.

The expansive 43-date North American tour, which starts on June 19 in Gilford, New Hampshire, will have three separate legs.

The three Texas dates — The Woodlands on August 28, Austin on August 29, and Dallas on August 30 — will be part of the second leg, where Johnson will be joined by Lake Street Dive.

The tour is Johnson’s first since 2022 and will celebrate a new era of music, film, and environmental connection rooted in his 20+ year career.

Johnson is touring in support of a forthcoming soundtrack, scored by Johnson and Hermanos Gutiérrez for a new documentary, SURFILMUSIC, that chronicles Johnson’s evolution from surfer to filmmaker to musician.

The film, which will be released in 2026, weaves through the making of his iconic surf films Thicker Than Water (1999) and The September Sessions (2000), which paved the way for his music career.

It celebrates the lifelong friendships and ocean-driven community that shaped Johnson’s path, and features many of the surfers who appeared in the original films, including Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and the Malloy Brothers.

Johnson released his first album, Brushfire Fairytales, in 2001, and he has gone on to put out eight other albums, most recently Meet the Moonlight in 2022.

Fans can register for the Jack Johnson presale at jackjohnsonmusic.com, now through Sunday, November 9. The presale begins Monday, November 10, 2025 at 10 am local time and runs through general on-sale date of Friday, November 14.

Jack Johnson SURFILMUSIC 2026 Tour Dates

June 19 – Gilford, NH – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
June 20 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
June 21 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
June 24 – Saratoga, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
June 26 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Highmark Mann Center
June 28 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
June 30 – Toronto, ON – RBC Amphitheatre
July 1 – Canandaigua, NY – CMAC
July 3 – Burgettstown, PA – Pavilion at Star Lake
July 4 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
July 5 – Grand Rapids, MI – Acrisure Amphitheater
July 7 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
July 8 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
July 10 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 11 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
July 12 – Shakopee, MN – Minnesota Quarry Amphitheater
August 18 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
August 19 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
August 21 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
August 22 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park
August 23 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
August 25 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater
August 26 – Orange Beach, AL – The Wharf Amphitheater
August 28 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
August 29 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater
August 30 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion
September 1 – Riverside, MO – MORTON Amphitheater
September 2 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
September 3 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
September 4 – West Valley City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
September 6 – Stateline, NV – Lake Tahoe Amphitheatre at Caesars Republic
September 26 – George, WA – The Gorge Amphitheatre
September 27 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
September 28 – Troutdale, OR – McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater
September 30–October 1 – Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theatre
October 3 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
October 4 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
October 6 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
October 9 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
October 10– Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
October 11– Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl

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