As singer-songwriters become more and more common, it requires a lot of ingenuity to set yourself apart, especially in the digital age.
Last Friday’s show at the Social was a testament to how little nuances, and audience interaction, can really help musicians differentiate themselves and make the crowd feel like they’re watching someone in a league of their own.
The first performer to take the stage that night was Laura Stevenson, who surprised me most out of everyone I saw. Each song she played immediately captured me, even though I had never heard any of them before. Some artists require a lot of careful listening to truly understand and appreciate, but anyone could identify with Stevenson’s cryptic, yet heartfelt lyrics as soon as they escaped her lips. Her songs never felt sorrowful for the sake of it, or accessible to the point of pop music dishonesty, but I still found myself turning her lyrics over in my mind as well as nodding along to her bubbly instrumentation and melodies.
Next to take the stage was Into It. Over It. who managed to provide his own incentive for audiences to attend his shows. In between songs, the solo performer would regale the audience with stories detailing the creation of his work, providing insight into his songwriting process, that you might not have found anywhere else.
Kevin Devine was the last to appear, and summarized the evening well by demonstrating how he, as well as Into It. Over It. and Stevenson, could mesmerize the audience with music they had come to love, and still engage with them between songs.
All three provided more laughs than I’ve come to expect at concerts these days, whether it was due to Stevenson’s tales of the tour, Into It. Over It.’s dialogue with random audience members or Devine’s decision, at one point, to play condensed covers of some of music’s most popular songs.
Going to shows like these, I don’t always know what to expect. While many times, I have been delighted to see musicians passionately play songs that clearly originate from places of intense suffering and pain, it’s sometimes just nice to see performers who have fun with what they’re doing.
