First up to perform was Juliet. She sang mostly original songs which were the soft, sweet, and heartfelt acoustic songs that mostly had to do with relationships. She also put her own take on Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok" and then a song by Nora Jones (forgive me I am not familiar with Nora Jones so I don't know what song). I noticed the crowd was a little rude when she came out just because the show was starting like a half hour late. But nothing was her fault, she gave a great performance. What I liked was that throughout the her whole set she had a smile on her face which is always nice. The only thing I would say is that she should have shortened her set. She played around 6 songs, which tends to be somewhat long for an opening act. But no doubt she is a great performer.
Alex Goot helped to liven up the audience after the sweet and mellow performance by Juliet. Goot was the main reason I decided to attend this concert. He lived up to his reputation of being a fun and outgoing performer. He was playing the keyboard and you could see the passion in his performance as he was almost pounding into the keyboard and swaying to the music. His originals were a mixture of pop and ballad acoustic music. What really sold the audience was his cover songs. First, he took the audience back a decade or so to the days of the Backstreet Boys, covering the song “I Want It That Way”. Backstreet Boys has always been a guilty pleasure for me, and I am sure it was the same for most of the audience. Goot didn’t do too much different to the song but he made everyone laugh and sing along. What made this cover unique was he worked in the recently viral song “Friday” originally by Rebecca Black. For those of you who don’t know, that song has been labeled as the “Worst Viral Song Ever”. So hearing that song mixed in was extremely entertaining for the audience. He then covered the song “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton. This is another song that everyone knew the words too, which is a smart thing to do for small acts. He performed it beautifully and if we weren’t already standing, I am sure there would have been a standing ovation. I would go to another Alex Goot performance anytime.
Last up was the headlining act, Boyce Avenue. They started as an acoustic band but have now migrated to being more of a pop/rock band. I wasn’t too familiar with their originals but as I looked around I could see a great deal of the audience singing along, which is always a good sign. Alejandro, the lead singer of the group, brought humor to the group as well. He made fun remarks towards Chicago, and you could tell he is a natural performer. Along with rocking the stage with their originals, they also performed a couple covers. First one was “Wonderwall” by Oasis. This song is considered a classic to most audiences now and as said by Alejandro “Everyone better know the words to this one…” It was performed beautifully and the crowd just adored them. From the start of their performance I kept heard the crowd begging for them to cover one specific song, and that was “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. It was close to the end of the night and after the first couple lines, the crowd went crazy. Their video of this song on YouTube got millions of views so it was no surprise that the crowd was begging for it. They ended the night rocking the stage and everyone left wanting more.
Despite the late start and somewhat impatient audience in the beginning, the night went pretty well. This was a great way to get these not so well known names more exposure. I can see any of these acts performing for a larger venue in the future and I will be eager to see them all. I encourage everyone to check them out on YouTube and subscribe and be sure to look out for future shows.
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