'Remarkable' Zach Bryan to play to 350,000 Irish people this summer
Olivia Kelleher
Extra tickets will go on sale on Monday for the Cork concerts of Grammy award-winning country artist Zach Bryan in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on June 20th and June 21st.
350,000 people will see the 30-year-old American singer-songwriter over the course of his four concerts in Belfast and Cork this summer.
Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions said at a press conference in Cork on Thursday that the ‘remarkable’ country artist is one of the very few performers capable of selling hundreds of thousands of tickets in Ireland.
“There are people probably here who have never heard of Zach. The greatest seller for Zach in Ireland is Cork. Cork has accounted for 31 per cent of our sales. The next popular place for Zach is Tipperary.
"When you see him you will be blown away. Tom Dunne gave him a review in the Irish Examiner. He only listened to him the night before (his concert).
"He had never heard of him. In his review he said that he had an ‘unbelievable voice and unbelievable charisma on stage.’ Zach is a good guy as well.”
Bryan played three nights at the Phoenix Park in Dublin last summer having sold 180,000 tickets.
He started his “With Heaven on Tour” concerts in St Louis, Missouri on March 7th last and will play a series of concerts across the States.
He arrives in Europe on May 31st for a gig in Berlin, Germany. He will play in Denmark, Norway, and the UK before arriving in Ireland for four concerts in June.
Bryan has sold over 30 million albums and singles and has won several awards including an Academy of Country Music Award and Four Billboard Music Awards.
Meanwhile, Aiken said that the Live at the Marquee series of concerts, which has run for 21 years, continues to be a huge success in Cork.
“It is remarkable. 15 years ago we announced Kanye West and I thought that was going to be our last year.
"When this series of concerts is over this year 1,750,000 people will have gone to the Marquee. That is incredible. Christy Moore has done 20 years of the 21. 350 artists have played in Cork. We have had great shows over the years.”
The series of concerts will get underway on the 10th and 11th of June with K Pop Forever Tribute with special guests the KK Sisters.
Other acts to follow will include Imelda May, two David Gray gigs, Bell X1, Two Door Cinema Club, Five, Paul Weller, Christy Moore, James Arthur, Natasha Bedingfield, One Day presents Belters Only, Dec Pierce Block Rockin’ Beats, Kesha, Tom Grennan, James Taylor and his All Star Band and the Marquee Masters.
The series will end with two gigs from comedian Kevin Bridges on July 17th and 18th.
Live at the Marquee was originally conceived as an event to take place during Cork’s tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2005.
It was then decided to continue with the events in the years that followed. In 2007, the organisers of the event decided to relocate from Monaghan Road to the Docklands on Centre Park Road in Cork.
In previous years performers such as Sting, Brian Wilson, Al Green, Duran Duran, Bob Dylan, Pink, and Elton John have played at the 5,000 capacity venue as part of the series.
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.
