Bailey Zimmerman is renowned for the energy he brings to his stage performances and, boy, did he bring it to his UK fans on Saturday 11th May at the O2 institute, Birmingham.

Picture the scene: the venue is packed and the crowd surrounding you is already pumped after a brilliant opening set from Josh Ross. The lights go down and ‘Won’t Back Down’ by Youngboy Never Broke Again, Dermot Kennedy and Bailey Zimmerman starts playing over the sound system. It’s the soundtrack to the latest Fast and Furious film and it’s a banger. Your heart starts beating faster with anticipation and you wonder if your bladder really will make it through this whole show. As the song finishes, a ten second timer appears on the big screen above the stage and you can’t help but join in the countdown…ten…nine…eight…the opening scene from Bailey Zimmerman’s ‘Religiously’ music video plays and the stage is illuminated with Zimmerman’s BZ branded drums and all white flooring. It ends, the set is flooded yellow and from off stage, you can hear Zimmerman, “Birmingham I need y’all to bring the energy tonight, are you gonna give it to me or what?!” His two guitarists walk out, and you hear the last line of the chorus, “’cos I don’t have the only woman who believed in me, religiously”. CO2 jets fire up across the stage and out comes Zimmerman to an eruption of cheers from the whole crowd. It’s an opening straight out of a USA arena tour and it sets you up for a night you’ll never forget.

Zimmerman opens his set with ‘Religiously’, the title track of his latest album and tour. It’s the second night of his UK leg of ‘Religiously. The Tour’ and he is met with the warmest, most electric welcome from his UK fans. He’s in an all-white outfit, matching his stage, with what looks like a silk/satin effect bomber jacket. His energy is immediately 200% as he bounces around, acknowledging the audience in all corners and on all levels.

He moves into his next two songs, ‘Never Comin’ Home’ which was his first single back in 2021 and ‘Change’ that was released later that same year. He dedicated them to the OG BZ fans and there was plenty of them singing the words back to him.

“I met someone earlier,” Zimmerman says as he introduces his next number, “and I wasn’t going to play this song, but he said, ‘can you play that song it’s my favourite’. Hope you enjoy it buddy.” The stage floor is filled with smoke and Zimmerman sings ‘Warzone’ against a backdrop of thunderstorms, derelict landscapes and war images.

Zimmerman and the band exit the stage for a minute and return with a costume change. He’s in a more relaxed, simple outfit – jeans and a hoodie – and has a calmer energy for his next song, ‘Get To Getting’ Gone’. He sits on the elevation that his drummer is on, joined by his two guitarists and delivers the second song from his latest album. “I can tell you’re ready for a party tonight,” he says once it’s finished, “where I’m from we go harder than we should – I blame it on growing up in small town but that’s made me who I am.”

For his next song, ‘Fall in Love’, he sits with a stationary mic to deliver the song he wrote about an ex that left him for someone with more money. Zimmerman can’t sit still for long and it’s not long before he’s picking that mic stand up and bouncing around the stage again. After the final line, he licks his two middle fingers and puts them up – the crowd goes nuts.

He performs his next couple of songs: ‘Chase Her’ where the lyrics appeared on the screen behind him – not that these fans needed any help – and he rocked out on his electric guitar that was handed to him, timed perfectly with the CO2 jets, followed by ‘Fix’n To Break’. “Thank you for that, thank you for screaming at the top of your lungs. That is my favourite song,” he says to the roaring crowd. “I never want to take any of this for granted and I’m so grateful for every single one of y’all that’s come through that door and brough a ticket to see me and my boys.”

Firmly in the second half of the show, Zimmerman introduces his next song: “this is one of my favourite songs I’ve put out so far. I’m not expecting you to know it.” His screen plays images of stars and galaxies, and his stage is lit purple. His band play the distinct opening to ‘Holy Smokes’ and his fans don’t miss a word. “Oh, you do know it, this will be fun!” he shouts after the first chorus. He takes another guitar break, “I’m gonna rock out again if that’s alright with you guys,” and he does – the joy and energy effervesce from Zimmerman and his bandmates, pouring out onto the crowd.

He moves seamlessly into ‘You Don’t Want That Smoke’ – a song that needed no introduction. “I played 107 shows last year and I’ve never had the energy that you guys are giving tonight. The more fun you guys wanna have, the more I will sweat and get lit up here.” He introduces himself as a small-town boy who never thought he’d leave. He tried his hand at singing on TikTok to get girls and now here he is. He talks about his tour with Morgan Wallen over in the UK last year and how grateful he is to be here on his own tour.

Introducing his next song as one he wrote for his grandpa; he talks about how he always had a feeling that he was about to text him or walk through the door. With the steel guitar now part of the set, Zimmerman slows things down to sing the poignant, ‘Waiting’. It’s from his old EP but that doesn’t stop everyone singing along. Phone lights are lifted and the emotion is heavy. Even in his slower songs, Zimmerman’s energy is high – the power in his voice and the way he lifts the entire mic stand to pour his soul into every note. “My grandfather would be proud of that,” he says as he finishes the song.

“This one’s about burning old bridges down and creating new ones,” he says as he introduces ‘House on Fire’. There’s another small interlude where the band exits the stage and Zimmerman returns in his opening outfit – white trousers, white t-shirt but this time, the bomber is black. It’s the same style with the same writing on the back, but the colour is different. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a metaphor – the end to the heartbreak he’s written about in his music? The beginnings of his new chapter?

He finishes off his show with ‘Never Leave’, ‘Where It Ends’ – a song that is in the country top 5 over in the USA right now – and his iconic ‘Rock and a Hard Place’. “I will be back, Birmingham,” he says as his show closes. He thanks his fans again, signs a guitar and gives it to a crowd member and – his notorious final move – takes his shirt off.

Zimmerman’s idiosyncrasies are what make his high energy performances so great. Anyone can take a song and jump around the stage, but Zimmerman sprinkles it with endearing personal notes – like when he apologised for swearing halfway through ‘Chase Her’ or when he stopped singing during ‘You Don’t Want That Smoke’ because he burped. He’s not faking any of it, he is unapologetically himself and his humility shines through it all.