Echosmith Show: Another Solid Show at the 9:30 Club!

My name is Joe. I am Megan's fiance. We went to an amazing concert at the 9:30 club on Sunday, 4/29. Here is my recap.

I got tickets for this concert last December just browsing around. I really wanted to see the band that wrote "Cool Kids" as it is a great and fun song! After I bought tickets I ended up buying the album "Talking Dreams" and really enjoyed the tracks on it. I then bought their Christmas album which is also really good and then the "Inside a Dream" EP they ended up releasing shortly thereafter. Their music is fun and upbeat so that is why I went to the concert.

We got to the 9:30 club about 5 minutes after the doors opened as the show wasn't sold out so I wasn't too worried. I have never been upstairs at the 9:30 club as I love to get as close to the band as possible. This time we went upstairs so we could try to get a better view and lean on the railing. The view up there is incredible, but the venue is great. There isn't a bad view anywhere in the whole venue! Just look at the picture at the beginning of this article. Great views! Unlike the Anthem, which has generally good views but you really gotta squint to see the band sometimes.

Also, being 31 years old I was probably older compared to the average person there, but far from the oldest. Echosmith has very broad appeal and catchy tunes so not surprised to see all sorts of people represented!

Anyway, the doors opened at 7:00 and the first opener went on at 8:15. This was Jena Rose. She did a really good job but I could tell she was newer to the scene. She had trouble to make the crowd clap their hands with her and stuff. However, for Boy with the Balloon the audience did a good job of holding out their phone lights and it really helped sell the song. That was my favorite song that she did. I recommend checking her out to see if you like her music. I also liked that she wore a jumpsuit, it was a different look from what I normally see most artists wear. Her single, The Boy with the Balloon, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rakm5i5D3I

Next up at 8:55 was the second opener, The Score. This band was a huge surprise and I LOVE them. I actually went and bought their album right after. They sound like a cross between Imagine Dragons and Walk the Moon. But they are really their own thing. You may have heard them on the radio before with their single "Oh My Love". But I loved all of their songs. My favorite was a tossup between Legend and Revolution. But really that album is great and only $7.99 on Amazon. I remember at one point that the lead guy complained that he needed some "microphone tape, because this one keeps slipping all over the fucking place'. He had an upbeat attitude and ended with "Strange" to remind people that they are perfect the way they are. Songs that reflect how people feel and help them feel great.

You can find the famous single "Oh My Love"  (apparently "famous" because it debuted in a british grocery store chain commercial) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXTg7owzmYo

Echosmith's hit single if you never heard it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSCzDykng4g

After a very quick turnaround Echosmith came on stage and they immediately fired the confetti guns. Which gave me the great photo at the top of this article. They played all their hits (but they have so many in my opinion). The first cool thing I noticed was that at the end of Bright she did a short duet of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie. For Talking Dreams she replaced "let's run away to NYC" with "let's run away to DC". Love it when a performer hams up it a bit for the crowd.

Her mom also came on stage briefly and Sydney told us to buy their sweatshirts that said "Life is Great" on them. However, her mom quickly informed her that they were SOLD OUT. So that was a little awkward.

I forget what song it was but eventually she was spinning a parasol at some point and invited this awesome kid named "Reed" up on stage (I hope I remembered his name right). She had him up there dancing and singing along with her while twirling his own parasol. He seemed so EXCITED To be up there and I thought that was amazing. That excitement and happiness seemed to rub off on the whole crowd and just made for a better experience.

 The second from last song was a cover of "When You Were Young" by the Killers. She gave a different take on the song which I love when people do. Then the last song before the encore was "Goodbye" and they threw a bunch of balloons filled with confetti for the crowd to bounce around. People are jerks is all I gotta say. They kept nailing the drummer with those balloons by bouncing them up on stage. Which in a venue as intimate as the 9:30 club is bound to happen. But no worries. Sydney had a knife and started stabbing the balloons in an explosion of confetti. I suspect this was part of the act, but who knows? Since they were filled with confetti I think it was.

Then they went off stage and we only had to cheer for like 2 minutes to get the one song encore of Cool Kids. One of the shortest encores I ever had to wait for. I've waited 10-15 minutes before and I bet other bands have made people wait longer. 

She opened Cool Kids by reminding us that we are not alone. You may not feel like a cool kid or whatever, but that's okay. We are each so important than anyone else. I am reminded by something I think I saw on TV. "You mean someone important, not like me." Then this person told that guy "I've never met anyone who wasn't important." I suspect Doctor Who said that but I am not 100% sure. It is a 100% factual statement though. Everyone is important, no one is more important than anyone else, I hope we can all remember that.

Anyway, during the song the whole crowd was dancing and singing along and I hugged and spun Megan doing the best dance moves I could possibly do. The energy of that ending performance was infectious. We had a happy buzz all of the way home and into the next day.

So overall 9/10 show. Then again the 9:30 club always has great shows. My favorite concert I ever saw was there (Jimmy Eat World Futures 10x tour).

Like all concerts I also wore ear plugs for most of the performance, trust me, you gotta do it. No one at the show cares and if it is good enough for the band it is good enough for me. I saw some good parents making their young kids wear hearing protection too so glad to see the trend is picking up. WEAR HEARING PROTECTION AT CONCERTS

Anyway, this is getting kind of long so I am gonna stop here. I may be back for other reviews from time to time so hoped you enjoyed reading this one. Go listen to Jena Rose, The Score, and Echosmith now! You'll enjoy them.