the good he'll do

Reluctant music superstar Zach Bryan heads to Houston on new U.S. stadium tour

Bryan heads to NRG as part of his huge stadium tour.

Zach Bryan/Instagram

Is the multi-talented Zach Bryan the greatest thing to happen to country music — or even music as a whole — in years? We’re absolutely biased in saying so, but let’s look at the numbers. Bryan’s May 19 show at Toyota Center, part of his Burn Burn Burn North American Tour, sold out immediately and marked the largest attendance for a country artist in Toyota Center history.

So yeah, he’s kind of a big deal.

Now, Houstonians can pack an even bigger stadium next summer as Bryan has just announced a big July 27, 2023 show at NRG Stadium in support of his wildly anticipated tour.

Dubbed The Quittin Time 2024 Tour, Bryan’s nationwide trek kicks off in Chicago at the United Center on March 6. He’ll perform with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit plus Levi Turner as supporting acts. The NRG Stadium show marks 19 just-announced additional dates.

Bryan fans should head to the pre-sale registration site here — like, right now — to get in line for the pre-sale, which starts Wednesday, October 18. Regular sales kick off on Friday, October 20.

This surprise NRG announcement follows yet another surprise from Bryan, who suddenly dropped his new Boys Of Faith EP, featuring Bon Iver and Noah Kahan, just weeks ago in late September.

His 2022 triple album American Heartbreak (a must-listen release) debuted at No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200, marking the biggest first week for a country album in 2022. Known for his epic live shows, Bryan released All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live from Red Rocks), a live album recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, on Christmas Day last year.

This year, the reluctant superstar scored the Academy of Country Music Award for New Male Artist of the Year. (That certainly calls his snub for Best Country Solo Performance in the Grammy Awards for “Something in the Orange” even more so). He released his eponymous, fourth studio album in August, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

His most recent single from the album, “I Remember Everything” (with fellow star Kacey Musgraves), managed to top the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot Rock Songs, and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts all at once, being the first song ever to do so and literally making music history.

Not too shabby for a Navy brat from Oologah, Oklahoma (by way of Okinawa, Japan where he was born when his family was stationed there). Boasting the kind of country music origin story that seems written for a movie, Bryan himself was an active member of the U.S. Navy when he launched his career via YouTube in 2017 — while he was literally on the naval base. He was only just honorably discharged in October 2021 after eight years of service — and the fact that he signed to Warner Records and played the legendary Grand Ole Opry that year.

Oh, and adding to his everyman/folk American hero status: He made sure that the most expensive ticket for his Burn Burn Burn tour show was a mere $156 — a steal compared to what fans have been forking out (think $450 plus) before he took over.

“I believe working class people should still be able to afford tickets to shows,” Bryan declared on social media. “I am so tired of people saying things can't be done about this massive issue while huge monopolies sit there stealing money from working class people. Also, to any songwriter trying to make relatable music for the working class man or woman’ should pride themself on fighting for the people who listen to the words they’re singing.”

See? He’s kind of a big deal.

Crafting irresistible hooks and the kind of poetic lyricism that harks to John Prine, Bob Dylan, or Jim Croce, Bryan can take listeners through wine-fueled romance, bro trips, and the dark loneliness of the cowboy life track by track. Songs like “Tishomingo” and “Good I’ll Do” became instant Google and Shazam searches when they appeared on Yellowstone (Bryan performed on the Taylor Sheridan hit, too.)

His Quittin Time 2024 Tour follows his trend of playing — and usually selling out — major U.S. stadiums. He’ll perform in major cities like New York City (two nights), Los Angeles (three nights), and Chicago — illustrating his major crossover appeal. He’ll gig with the aforementioned Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Turnpike Troubadours, Sheryl Crow, The War And Treaty, Mt. Joy, Sierra Ferrell, The Middle East, Matt Maeson, and Levi Turner.

Here are the new additions to The Quittin Time 2024 Tour. Find the full tour dates, ticket information, and more

here.

March 30 Belmont Park, NY UBS Arena
March 31 Belmont Park, NY UBS Arena
May 31 Oakland, CA Oakland Alameda County Coliseum
June 2 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
June 3 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
June 4 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
June 14 Denver, CO Empower Field at Mile High
June 20 Detroit, MI Ford Field
June 29 Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium
July 17 Foxborough, MA Gillette Stadium
July 21 Orlando, FL Amway Center
July 22 Sunrise, FL Amerant Bank Arena
July 25 New Orleans, LA Caesars Superdome
July 27 Houston NRG Stadium
August 11 Atlanta, GA Mercedes-Benz Stadium
August 26 Grand Forks, ND Alerus Center
December 12 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
December 18 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
December 19 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center

Movie Review

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is technically stunning but lacks emotion

Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Matt Damon in The Odyssey.

For a story that is 3,000 years old and has been referenced innumerable times since the advent of the moving picture, it’s striking that The Odyssey has not been adapted into a film more often. Christopher Nolan’s new film is, depending on your definition, just the fourth time in film history that someone has attempted to tell the original story (oddly, the third film — The Return — came out just two years ago).

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, who has been gone from his home of Ithaca for over 20 years. Waiting at home for him is his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland), as well as a hall full of suitors — most notably Antinous (Robert Pattinson) — who are hoping that Penelope will finally believe that Odysseus is dead and choose to marry one of them.

In typical Nolan fashion, the film goes back-and-forth in time often to show what has happened to Odysseus in the past two decades. His sea voyages with his crew have him attacking Troy using the legendary Trojan Horse; taking on the cyclops Polyphemus (Bill Irwin); trying to escape the clutches of the witch Circe (Samantha Morton); living with the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron); communing with the vision of Athena (Zendaya); and more.

Nolan, who wrote and directed the epic film, has a clear reverence for the material and, perhaps more than any current filmmaker, has the chops to make the sprawling story feel coherent. With a plethora of characters who have names that take some time to understand for those not familiar with the ancient tale, it’s extremely tough to wrangle everything and everyone together, and Nolan and his team make that trick seem relatively easy.

However, there’s a difference between making the story comprehensible and making it compelling, and Nolan is not as successful on this front. As portrayed in this film, it’s difficult to care whether Odysseus ever finds his way home. His connection with Penelope and Telemachus is tenuous, at best, and his status as a hero is called into question on multiple occasions. Complicated protagonists are nothing new, but in a story where the hero’s journey is the whole point, Nolan fails to make the quest all encompassing.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some standout moments along the way. The sequence in Polyphemus’ cave is tremendous, as are a few other scenes in which Nolan’s reported reliance on practical effects make you wonder how the crew accomplished what they did. Damon has said this is the hardest movie he’s ever made, and that effort shows up in every scene, especially those on the water.

At 56 years old, Damon is getting close to elder statesman status in Hollywood, and he ably embodies the role of the respected and feared leader. Hathaway, Holland, and Pattinson get the next most screentime, and each makes their character interesting if not mesmerizing. The murderer’s row of the supporting cast — Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Morton, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and more — give each scene a nice sheen whether or not their individual arc makes sense.

While the technical achievements of Nolan and his team in The Odyssey are admirable and occasionally awe-inspiring, the story he lays out is not quite as overwhelming. The structure he chose to use doesn’t allow the story to overcome the episodic nature of Odysseus’ brutal journey, keeping big emotions mostly at bay.

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The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17.

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