Can Zach Bryan break the U.S. concert attendance record when he plays Michigan Stadium?
110,905.
When Bryan performs at Michigan Stadium on Sept. 27, that's the attendance figure he'll need to exceed to break the record for the biggest ticketed concert by a single act in U.S. history.
It's an honor currently held by country music veteran George Strait, who notched that 110,905 mark last June when he played a home-state show at Texas A&M University's Kyle Field. Strait bested a record long held by the Grateful Dead, who drew 107,019 fans to a 1977 concert at a New Jersey raceway.
Bryan's September show at the Big House, announced Wednesday, will be the first concert ever held there — and if ticket sales go as U-M officials hope, the crowd record is certainly within reach.
The concert will be held in-the-round, meaning Bryan's stage will be positioned at midfield, allowing the stadium's full bowl capacity to be used. That's more than 107,000 seats.
But with 5,0000-plus additional seats to be set up on the Wolverines' field, the total attendance could top 112,000, setting a new milestone in the long history of the U.S. concert industry.
Tickets will go sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday through AXS, following a presale that quietly launched Thursday for U-M students and season-ticket holders. John Mayer will be among the acts joining Bryan in support.
Michigan fans are certainly well acquainted with attendance landmarks: Michigan Stadium is the biggest in the Western Hemisphere and third-largest in the world, and the Wolverines have led NCAA football attendance for 47 of the past 50 seasons. U-M has notched crowds of 100,000-plus for 323 consecutive games, dating back to November 1975.
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Those eye-popping statistics have carried over to other events too, including 2014's NHL Winter Classic with the Detroit Red Wings and Maple Leafs (105,491) and a Manchester United-Real Madrid soccer match (109,318) later that year.
In 2010, the Big Chill at the Big House — a hockey game pitting U-M and MSU — set a world hockey record at the time with 104,173 fans.
Michigan Stadium's all-time attendance peak came in 2013, when U-M's night football game versus Notre Dame drew 115,109.
'Our fans always like to be part of that type of record-setting,' said Michigan athletics spokesman David Ablauf. 'They take pride in it.'
So that bodes well for Bryan, who sold out Ford Field last summer as part of his Quittin Time Tour.
And he'll need to clear just 76,229 to own the concert record in the state of Michigan: That distinction has been held for nearly half a century by Led Zeppelin, whose 1977 Pontiac Silverdome show also set a then-record for biggest indoor concert in the world.
'To be part of something that never happened before is a big deal for our fans,' said Ablauf. 'And I think that will be the case here.'
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Can Zach Bryan's Michigan Stadium show set the U.S. attendance record?
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