READY TO TAKE THE SPAC STAGE
Saratoga Springs High School grad to appear with Zac Brown Band
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Nicholas Hurley walked across the Saratoga Performing Arts Center stage in June 1999 when he graduated from Saratoga Springs High School.
Hurley will again walk on the SPAC stage this weekend, but this time he’ll be with the Zac Brown Band.
Zac Brown Band has a family fan club called “Zamily.” Hurley’s wife, Keri, joined the club years ago. During shows, Zac Brown Band routinely invites military members on stage as they play their hit song, “Chicken Fried.”
Lt. Hurley will join the band on stage Saturday night thanks to his wife.
“To be on stage in my dress blues while the band is showing its support for the military is a feeling that’s hard to explain. Being able to salute the American flag in uniform is something that I’m so grateful to get the chance to do and take great pride in every time I do it,” Hurley said in an e-mail. “I’m truly honored to have this opportunity, and it means the world to me that my wife set this up. I suppose I’ll keep her around a while.”
Hurley played soccer at Keuka College in the early 2000s, receiving a degree in occupational therapy
before deciding to join the military shortly after graduation. He was accepted to the nuclear power program. Hurley enlisted in the Navy as a nuclear electrician, finishing nuclear power school in the fall of 2006. He’s attending Surface Warfare Officer School in Newport, R.I., currently, but his next stop will be in San Diego as chief engineer on the USS Rafael Peralta.
Nicholas didn’t grow up listening to country music, but Keri quickly persuaded him to give it a chance.
“She started listening to [Zac Brown Band] in 2010 and 2012 was her first concert, which happened to be while I was on deployment. At the concert, they showed a destroyer (the ship Nicholas was on during deployment) on the big screen and she got pretty emotional. It meant even more to her once the military honoree came out during “Chicken Fried” and saluted,” said Hurley. “Until then she didn’t know of their huge support for the military and she was extremely happy to see it. That instant, Zac Brown Band was at the top of her list and quickly became her favorite band.”
This won’t be the first time the couple has been to a Zac Brown Band concert together.
“They are one of only a handful of bands that you can see live and sound the same as they do on the radio. [They have] great voices and they put on a very entertaining and meaningful show,” said Hurley. “You can tell they’ve never lost sight of who they are and where they came from.”
The couple even danced to Zac Brown Band’s “Free/ Into the Mystic” on their wedding night back in 2014. It’s the last time Nicholas’s entire family was all together — but this weekend they will assemble, as relatives are flying in from as far away as Florida for the concert.
“The fact that my family made time in their busy lives to get together and come back to Saratoga for a couple days is humbling, and I feel very fortunate to have a family willing to do that. Unfortunately, not all families are able to do that, let alone families with five kids spread all across the east coast,” said Hurley. “Keri and I are excited to see everyone and it’ll be a breathe of fresh air and a bit nostalgic for me having all of us back in Saratoga. This will be Keri’s first time in Saratoga — and I have warned her she may not want to leave, and that she needs to eat a doughboy from Esperanto.”
Zac Brown Band always represents the military at every show, which speaks volumes to a military member like Hurley.
“Lots of people take time and acknowledge the sacrifices that the military community and their families make for our great nation. However, it’s 100 percent genuine and heartfelt every time they mention or acknowledge the active duty/veteran community. I feel I can speak for the rest of my brothers and sisters in uniform and those who have previously served that we deeply appreciate everything the band has done for the military and their families,” said Hurley. “The fact they allow active duty members on stage with them is insane, and it’s still not sinking in that I’ll be on stage with the Zac Brown Band in my hometown at SPAC.”
Saturday night at the same spot he graduated high school over 18 years ago, Hurley will again be honored, but this time for something even greater, fighting for his high school classmate’s freedom.