Zach Top Prefers Playing Smaller Venues Over Amphitheaters – “There’s Some Kind Of Energy There You Can’t Really Recreate”

Fresh off the release of his killer sophomore record, Ain’t In It For My Health, last week, along with a MusicRow Award win for Song of the Year (“I Never Lie”) today, Zach Top has simply been flying to the top of the genre. Couple that with his ACM Award win for New Male Artist this past April, his run with Dierks Bentley on the Broken Branches Tour and his continued buzz on social media, the “Use Me” singer has been nothing short of a phenomenon.

It’s no secret that Top has essentially speed-ran his way to stardom over the past year off the back of the success of his classic 90s sound, which was showcased beautifully on his debut album, Cold Beer & Country Music, and it’s looking very likely that he’s going to be selling out arenas soon. With that being said, the Washington native says he prefers playing smaller venues compared to large ones.

In a recent interview with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly, Top was asked about how it felt to play bigger shows, most notably on Bentley’s tour and at larger venues such as rodeos and fairs, and he gave an interesting response.

For Top, he wants the bigger venues that he’s currently been playing to feel much smaller. Noting the energy present in small, packed dive bars and clubs, he feels like it can’t be beat:

“The bigger shows that I play, the more I want it to feel smaller. The energy of being in some little dive bar country club with, you know, like a thousand people packed into a room where there should probably be only 800 based on fire code, that energy is unmatched.

And you’re playing on some foot-tall stage and the ceiling’s only seven and a half feet, so you have to keep your head ducked a little bit or you’re hitting the ceiling. There’s some kind of energy there that you can’t really recreate in an arena or amphitheater or whatever.”

I think if you’re a true fan of the concert-going experience, you’re going to agree with the Washington native here. Though an amphitheater or stadium show will always have a bigger spectacle simply due to its size, there is something about being shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of people in a small venue that cannot be beat. Whether it’s the fact that you’re physically closer to the artists in these smaller venues or the fact that the sound is much more in-your-face, I’ll take it each and every time. It might be a hot-take, but I’ll take a small bar or theater over an amphitheater any day.

Though Top’s days of playing smaller venues are all but gone now, he does have a bunch of dates scheduled on his extended Cold Beer & Country Music Tour, which resumes on September 26th in College Station, Texas.

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Zach Top Tour Dates

September 26—College Station, TX—Live at the Station
September 27—Lubbock, TX—Cook’s Garage+
September 28—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre‡
September 29—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre‡

October 3—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena‡
October 4—Ocean City, MD—Country Calling 2025
October 9—Knoxville, TN— Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center+
October 10—Louisville, KY—KFC Yum! Center+
October 11—Evansville, IN—Ford Center+
October 16—Brandon, MS—Brandon Amphitheater+
October 17—Bossier City, LA—Brookshire Grocery Arena+
October 18—Oklahoma City, OK—Paycom Center+
October 23—Greensboro, NC—First Horizon Coliseum+
October 24—Charleston, SC—Credit One Stadium+
October 25—Simpsonville, SC—Greenville Country Music Festival
October 30—Missoula, MT—Adams Center‡
October 31—Billings, MT—MetraPark – First Interstate Arena at Metrapark‡

November 1—Casper, WY—Ford Wyoming Center‡
November 6—Hollywood, FL—Stars and Strings 2025
November 7—Bismarck, ND—Bismarck Event Center‡
November 8—Rapid City, SD—Summit Arena at The Monument‡
November 13—Eugene, OR—Matthew Knight Arena‡
November 14—Seattle, WA—Climate Pledge Arena‡
November 15—Vancouver, BC—Rogers Arena‡
November 22—Kennewick, WA—Toyota Center‡
November 23—Kennewick, WA—Toyota Center‡

December 12—Las Vegas, NV—MGM Grand Garden Arena‡

+with special guest Andy Buckner
‡with special guest Jake WorthingtonThe post Zach Top Prefers Playing Smaller Venues Over Amphitheaters – “There’s Some Kind Of Energy There You Can’t Really Recreate” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.