Zach Bryan N.J. concert review: Country superstar stumbles in disappointing Jersey debut [Video]

Otherwise it was serviceable performance from Bryan, who wailed well through “Godspeed” — “I wrote this when I was 18 and didn’t think anyone would ever hear it, ever,” he prefaced — and “Burn, Burn, Burn,” with its soaring chorus “let me go, down the line! We all burn, burn, burn in time.”

He preferred few frills. No props, no pyro, no stunts; a dedication to traditionalist, heartland austerity. What he did offer were anecdotes before songs: how he got actor Matthew McConaughey to appear in a music video for his newer jam “Nine Ball,” how he recorded “Condemned” at an AirBnB while he was still in the Navy, and how his late mother used to sit on a tailgate and cry as he sang, promising “someday this is gonna work for you.”

During “Dawns,” a duet with folk-pop star Maggie Rogers, an intrepid fan held up a sign asking …