Zach Bryan invited a fan onstage to perform at BST Hyde Park after a viral TikTok campaign.
The Grammy-winning country star played his first-ever UK festival headline slot last night (June 28), marking the occasion by honouring the wishes of one persistent TikTok user.
In the lead up to the show, country musician Ollie Hawkins had made daily viral posts asking the ‘Nine Ball’ singer if he could join him on stage to perform ‘Heading South’ for his birthday.
One such post featured Hawkins with a sign that read: “Hi, my name is Ollie. I play music and today is my birthday. Can I play Heading South with you?”, to which Bryan replied: “Of course brother, can’t wait.”
They played the 2020 hit together in front of the 65,000-strong crowd, with Hawkins later taking to Instagram to say he was in “disbelief” he pulled it off. “Never in a million years did I think this would happen,” he said. “@zachlanebryan you just made my dreams come true. Insane.”
Zach Bryan at BST Hyde Park played:
‘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’ (with Ollie Hawkin)
‘I Remember Everything’
‘Nine Ball’
‘Hey Driver’ (with Dermot Kennedy)
‘Condemned’
‘Burn, Burn, Burn’
‘Quittin’ Time’
Bryan is due to play again tonight (June 29) after an extra date was added due to high demand for tickets.
Jim King, CEO of European Festivals at AEG Presents, previously said of the fan response to the shows: “The demand to see Zach Bryan has been incredible, with his fans coming from all over the UK to see these exclusive performances. It’s shaping up to be the biggest shows of the summer.”
Upcoming headliners for the London concert series include Noah Kahan (4 July), Sabrina Carpenter (5-6 July), Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts (11 July) and Jeff Lynne’s ELO (July 13).
In other Zach Bryan news, last year, the singer-songwriter and guitarist’s name was featured in the list of the Top 10 highest-grossing music world tours for 2024. Coming in at Number Eight, his ‘Quittin’ Time Tour’ reportedly drew in $199.1million (£156.9million). Others on the list included P!nk, Coldplay, Bad Bunny, Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones.
He also recently teased a new film project called Motorbreath with Matthew McConaughey. He confirmed a new on-screen project was in development to celebrate his last “major label album”.
Two posts were also shared on his Instagram page to tease the upcoming project. The first saw him share a snippet of what seems to be a new, unreleased song called ‘Birdie’. “Don’t mean to play your favourite cover, of between the bars / feeling fucking empty,” he is heard singing, as the track starts to gain momentum.
