Zach Bryan Delivers Extremely Emotional Performance Of “Sweet DeAnn,” Written For His Late Mother, During Record-Breaking Michigan Stadium Show

An extremely heartfelt moment.

Over the weekend, Zach Bryan played a massive show at the University of Michigan’s Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, the first-ever concert at the Big House, along with John Mayer, Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen and Joshua Slone.

And when I say it was “massive,” I mean he broke the record for the largest ticketed concert attendance in US history, a record that had just been set a little over a year ago by The King himself, Mr. George Strait.

Zach took the stage in Ann Arbor in front of 112,000 people on Saturday evening, marking a huge end to his touring season in 2025. Granted, 2025 was a rather mild touring year for Zach, who has been road dogging pretty hard these past few years, but he certainly made up for it with the size of the stadiums he’s been playing.

Of course, he sang fan-favorite songs like “Revival,” and was even joined by his opener John Mayer to perform a Grateful Dead cover, though it looked like one of the highlights was his extremely emotional performance of “Sweet DeAnn,” which is a song he wrote about his late mother. It was included on Zach’s debut studio album, DeAnn, also named for his mom, who passed away in 2016. Bryan was very close with his mom, and obviously that kind of a loss of a parent is devastating, especially considering Bryan was only 20-years-old

“Sweet DeAnn” has been a very special song in his catalog for years now, and the lyrics tell a beautiful and sad story about how much he misses her and how badly it hurts knowing she’ll miss so many big moments in his life, like getting married one day and having kids of his own. She was certainly right about him being “seen by the masses someday,” and that’s never been more evident or true than it was this past weekend:

“And you always sat there with me
When you cried every time I played keen
You said your boy would be seen
By the masses someday

I don’t want the stage
I don’t want the girls
I want back the days
You were breathin’ in this world”

I can only imagine how hard it was to perform this song for his mom, who he clearly still misses very much and always will, on a night that was easily one of the biggest of his career thus far, knowing she wasn’t here on earth to witness it and be part of it with him. It’s a song that he hasn’t played live at all this year, but with a crowd like that, he had to break it out one last time.

Setting that kind of record is a huge accomplishment, and the fact that Zach isn’t even 30 yet and able to do that kind of thing is just insane. His performance of “Sweet DeAnn” looked incredibly special, and you can see it in his eyes how much it meant to him to play that song on this night:

@oklahomanoutlaw Zach Bryan played ‘Sweet DeAnn’ live at Michigan Stadium! #ZachBryan #michiganstadium #michigan #thebighouse #sweetdeann ♬ original sound – Oklahoman Outlaw

Fans in the comments were pointing out how emotional it made them to watch him perform it, with many who were at the show saying it made them cry to hear and see it in person, and I can totally understand that because it cuts right to the heart whether you’re a fan of him or not. The emotions were palpable, and I think I would’ve been crying too:

“Well this is depressing. This song is about his Mom that died who’s named was DeAnn. Now think about it. His mom is looking down on him preforming to the biggest crown any musician has ever preformed to.”

“And I wish that my mama could see me singing for this crowd out in deep Michigan”

“That’s the quietest the audience has ever been. I think they knew that was being sung directly to his mama.”

“You said your boy would be seen by the masses one day.”

“Brought it back for his final show. Beautiful.”

“I’m not even at the concert and I’m crying. He wrote this song so long ago and now he’s literally just sold out the largest stadium in the country (I think) it’s just amazing.”

“At one point he was looking up while singing and that’s when i lost it. his mama was definitely smiling down on all 100,000 of us.”

“Without a doubt she was there smiling. The energy in that stadium was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced!”

“Okay so my heart is broken.”

“My dad started crying, it was so sad.”

“Ugh he was crying and I wanted to cry too.”

“He looks so happy to be there and to be playing this song.”

“I was there!!! And I cried….”

“She’s so proud of you.”

“He had to.”

“I’m sobbing.”

“Oh I am sick.”

“Yea I was ugly sobbing.”

“She is so proud.”

It’s hard enough to listen to as it is, and after watching that TikTok, I’m just not okay…

“Sweet DeAnn”

The post Zach Bryan Delivers Extremely Emotional Performance Of “Sweet DeAnn,” Written For His Late Mother, During Record-Breaking Michigan Stadium Show first appeared on Whiskey Riff.