- - Zac Brown Band is knee deep in feelings at Sphere show in Las Vegas

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY December 7, 2025 at 3:23 AM

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LAS VEGAS — The beauty of the Sphere is its ability to transform.

Every act with a residency at the dynamic Las Vegas venue, from U2’s stunning 2023 run that opened the arena to the Backstreet Boys’ current slick pop fest, has molded the Sphere's unparalleled technology to suit both its music and personality.

The Zac Brown Band, which kicked off its eight-date Sphere run Dec. 5, tweaked the foundation yet again by creating a musical journey laced with captivating visuals that complemented Brown’s lyrical storytelling.

"The biggest surprise of prepping for the Sphere is realizing your only limitation is your imagination," Brown tells USA TODAY. "This is the most ambitious show we've ever attempted, but it’s the perfect canvas for our music. We're most excited to share how these songs feel when the entire room is part of the mood. The fans don’t just watch the show, they're in the show with us.”

The Zac Brown Band coordinated in white for the second part of their Dec. 5, 2025 show at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

The nine-piece band’s specialized production is named for their just-released eighth studio album, “Love & Fear.” While the 140-minute show drew evenly from ZBB’s ample 20-year catalog, starting with the growling hard rocker “Heavy is the Head” with Brown donning a crown and flexing sculpted biceps, several new songs were peppered throughout.

What new songs does Zac Brown Band play in Sphere show?

The finger-snapping “Hard Run,” the pinpoint harmonizing and wicked guitar soloing in “Animal” and the strolling “I Ain’t Worried About It,” which shares a bloodline with Stephen Bishop’s 1977 soft rock hit, “On and On,” all received their live debut. Graphics of crumbling canyons (and seat-vibrating haptics connected to the visuals), schools of fish that felt large enough to swallow the arena, dancing skeletons and cracked glaciers embedded with the band’s faces enveloped the room.

“What a night, what a night,” Brown, in his wide-brimmed hat marveled, one of several times he was noticeably in his feelings about the scope of his surroundings. “I can’t believe it’s finally here.”

The Zac Brown Band made their Sphere debut Dec. 5, 2025, using all of the technical wonders of the Las Vegas venue.

The show is presented loosely in three parts, all connected to Brown’s pre-taped thoughts about fatherhood (prefacing the tender “My Old Man”), exorcising emotional demons, being a better person and expressing gratitude toward military veterans.

“Tonight is my love letter to you … even though I gave you my all, tonight I give you my everything,” Brown said in a voiceover at the start of the show.

The thought and care is apparent, though sometimes Brown’s ruminating, as when he came onstage in a fur coat and hat to talk about lessons learned from someone in Alaska before delving into “Colder Weather,” seemed to prompt restlessness from the sold-out crowd.

Zac Brown belts out a song at the Dec. 5, 2025 opening of his band's Sphere Las Vegas residency.Zac Brown Band pays tribute to Jimmy Buffett at Sphere residency

Whether standing center stage with his acoustic guitar, steering a segue from “Colder Weather” to the Eagles’ “Take It To the Limit” or delivering an impassioned vocal on “Passenger” while seated atop a piano, Brown, his physique a canvas of tattoos, is the de facto leader. But the talents of this Georgia-reared band run deep.

Fiddler Jimmy De Martini, guitarist/pianist Coy Bowles, multi-instrumentalist John Driskell Hopkins, drummer Chris Fryar, guitarist/keyboardist Clay Cook, percussionist Daniel de los Reyes, bassist Matt Mangano and guitarist/singer Caroline Jones are a formidable, chameleonic unit.

A sweet moment among the band came during “Toes,” from ZBB’s 2008 major-label debut, "The Foundation." As Brown led the chorus of “adiós and vaya con Dios,” Hopkins, who is living with ALS, walked across the stage using a trident as a cane before holding it overhead and wiggling his backside at a crowd grateful to see him robust and performing.

Another highlight came with a tribute to the artist who provided Brown his blueprint, the late Jimmy Buffett. Pockets of video of the Mayor of Margaritaville floated across the screen during “Knee Deep,” leading to a placid beach scene with a parrot perched on a chair and a lighted tiki torch the lasting image.

While ZBB has been synonymous with country music, Brown has always ensured that the band was never pigeonholed.

He often made bold detours into rock and electronica and that multitude of musical inspirations impresses even more in a live setting. ZBB dipped into their soul leanings on “Loving You Easy” as shots of the band in Glinda-esque bubbles floated around the 160,000-square-foot screen; turned poignant on the pretty piano ballad “Butterfly”; and roared on “Let it Run,” a new track about the joys of lighting up that features Snoop Dogg on record.

Every residency at the Sphere has been revolutionary. But the Zac Brown Band has done something new by giving their show an extra layer of depth and heart.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zac Brown Band pays tribute to Jimmy Buffett in Sphere show

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