Live Review: Zach Bryan – 28th June 2025 – BST Hyde Park, London, UK

“How are we feeling Hyde Park”, US country superstar Zach Bryan asked his 65,000 strong sold-out London audience last night as he dominated the Great Oak Stage of this year’s BST Hyde Park concert series for the first time. Last night’s epic performance was also the first of two consecutive shows at the landmark location in the capital – one that he would repeatedly gush his admiration for throughout a career spanning, 24-song set for passionate fans and country music lovers.

We were smiling from ear to ear as we made our way back to Hyde Park in the late afternoon of yesterday. The BST series is the peak of our year here at Renowned For Sound – our most favourite of live events to cover. I mean, who doesn’t love a day in the sun, sipping on a beer and enjoying the very best artists in music as they take over the grounds of one of the country’s most iconic outdoor spaces. Previous years have seen a plethora of A-list acts make the Great Oak Stage their very own, from Kylie, Robbie Williams, Shania Twain, Tom Petter and Eagles through to SZA, Phil Collins, Stevie Nicks and Take That – the BST series is really the cream of the crop when it comes to live music not just here in the UK, but internationally as we have spoken to many music fans over the years who have travelled long distances to see their idols in such a spectacular setting.

This years line up was just a grand with fellow icons Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Neil Young, Noah Kahan and the legendary Stevie Wonder all taking part in the headlining of this years line-up along with Jeff Lynne’s ELO closing their series with their historic final show of a career that has spanned 6 decades.

The sun was shining brightly over the park last night with not a single cloud in the sky as Zach Bryan made his debut at 8pm sharp, and it was a welcomed arrival from the crowd who roared with excitement as his large backing band that combined backing singers, a string section, several guitarists and a meaty horn section took their positions, all casually dressed and ready to give as much energy to the crowd individually as the leading man himself who then took his place and cracked the lid on the evening with Overtime before making his way through a stellar set of career notables including incredible performances of Open the Gate, Blue Jean Baby and Pink Skies which was complimented by Bryan’s harmonica and some expert banjo playing from bandmate Read Connolly who also provided deep Americana richness to songs like the touching East Side of Sorrow with his slide guitar.

Ahead of his offering of ballad God Speed and as he took periodic sips from a warming can of Budweiser, Bryan talked about having played the small Islington Academy only two and a half years earlier as he gazed over the enormous Hyde Park crowd with affection and appreciation – testament to the incredible talent Bryan is and speed of which a talent can be quickly enveloped by the increasingly Country-loving fans of the UK population. “I feel like the luckiest man in the world to be standing in front of you” Bryan then told the crowd with a glisten in his youthful blue eyes.

It was a sea of bearded men in branded trucker caps and girls in very revealing ripped denim shorts, cowboy caps and cowgirl boots – even if they did look painful or oversized, those girls remaining committed to theming it up regardless of the day-after consequences.

Dressed as casually as his talented entourage of backing musicians in a black Ozzy Osbourne vest and strapped to his guitar for the entirety of the show, new song and fittingly titled Streets of London sat mid-way in the set and enjoyed a live debut having only been released within the last week while old coastal towns were sung about on Fifth of May while the singer declared to his fans “I’m not trying to depress anyone on a Saturday but if I didn’t sing things you’d probably kill me, so I apologise” before a gorgeous performance of the currently 1.2billion streaming ballad, Something in the Orange.

Amongst all of the career juggernauts that the babyfaced ex-Navi songsmith delivered during the night, he also found time for a couple of duets for his fans that were at this point in the show in full and cheerful swing, belting back the hits and up on the shoulders of their friends or really going for it with the attempted line dancing moves. Support act Dermot Kennedy – introduced by Bryan as “one of the best singers in the world” – joined the Country superstar on a pitch-perfect rendition of Hey Driver while internet musician, Ollie Hawkins was given the best birthday gift from the musician as he joined Bryan for a duet on Heading South, all thanks to a viral Tik Tok campaign by the internet sensation asking to join him on stage to perform the song was granted in the lead up to the show.

It was a truly spectacular night of some of the finest from the Country genre and from one of the very best in the game. This musician really has come a long way form performing to 1000 people just over two years ago in Islington to selling out two back to back nights in one of the cities biggest outdoor spaces. With performances during the day from the likes of Dermot Kennedy, Waylon Wyatt and Gabrielle Aplin among many others all helping to warm the Hyde Park crowd up for the US bright-eyed headliner, our first day back to BST Hyde Park for 2025 could not have been more memorable!

Setlist:
Overtime
Open the Gate
God Speed
Blue Jean Baby
28
Fifth of May
Oklahoma Smokeshow
Dawns
Heavy Eyes
Motorcycle Drive By
Tourniquet
East Side of Sorrow
Streets of London
American Nights
Pink Skies
Something in the Orange
Heading South
I Remember Everything
Nine Ball
Hey Driver
Burn, Burn, Burn
Quitting Time
Condemned

Encore:
Revival

BST continues with Zach Bryan (29 June) Noah Kahan (4 July), Sabrina Carpenter (5 + 6 July), neil young and the chrome hearts (11 July), Stevie Wonder (12 July) and Jeff Lynne’s ELO (13 July) taking over Hyde Park.

Tickets are on sale now www.bst-hydepark.com

Brendon Veevers

::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.