Extra tickets for country music star Zach Bryan's three-night run at Dublin's Phoenix Park this June will go on sale this Friday at 9am.
He will play the venue in front of up up to 180,000 fans on Friday 20 June, Saturday 21 June and Sunday 22 June, with support from Turnpike Troubadours and Noeline Hofmann.
Speaking a press conference in Dublin this morning to announce the extra tickets, promoter Peter Aiken described Bryan as a "pretty cool dude", with a young fanbase.
"People know the words to every single song. It's the lyrics and the story telling that really get people," he said.
Hailing from Oklahoma, Bryan he has become one of country music's biggest acts. With 30 RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications, his 7x-Platinum hit Something in the Orange earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance in 2023.
For his legions of fans across Ireland, the countdown is on until they see him in action, but for many others, they are scratching their heads, wondering how this 28 hear old singer, from Oklahoma has captured so many hearts here.
"it's the storytelling," Peter Aiken told RTÉ’s Arts and Media Correspondent Evelyn O’Rourke.
"It resonates with people, he’s got that Springsteen thing about him, he’s got the style of country about his music."
"Normally when we have a concert of this scale, 50% of our audience would be from Greater Dublin, but for this year for these gigs, it's less than 12%," Aiken explained, adding that "the rest of the country, has discovered Zach Byran and they love him and they are snatching up all the tickets they can."
Bryan's route to stardom has been unusual.
He started writing songs when he was just 14 years old, and then when he turned 17 years of age, he enlisted in the US Navy.
He was on active duty for seven years, and began recording his music on friends’ phones to upload to Youtube from 2017.
"He was on a boat, one of those massive ships in South East Asia and for whatever reason, he put up two songs on YouTube and that is how he started off," Aitken explains. His music garnered fans from the early days and by 2021 he had signed a deal with Warner brothers.
In 2024 he won the Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the track I Remember Everything featuring Kacey Musgraves.
His debut album, American Heartbreak, topped Billboard’s Country Albums chart and reached the Top 5 of the Billboard 200 in the US.
Bryan has also amassed over 21.8 billion global streams.
Ed Sheeran was the last major artist to play at Dublin's Phoenix Park in May 2018. Justin Timberlake, The Killers and Coldplay have also played open-air gigs in the park.
As well as being enthusiastic about Byran's appearances next June, Aiken is also keen to spread the word about the positive inclusive developments in his industry.
"The feedback we got into the office was that families with younger kids wanted to come along but they wanted a more controlled space, so we decided that it would be a good idea to have an alcohol free area because these fans love the music and want to feel good about bringing their kids to share the music too."
He added: "Those family zone tickets sold out straight away!".
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