Falling in Love at First Sight (and Sound)

Most concerts have one or two opener acts before the headliner takes the stage. Sometimes, the openers are artists you may already know and love, and sometimes the openers are artists you've never heard of. Some people choose to not go to concerts early because they don't want to listen to artists they don't know. Unless traffic prevents me from getting to a concert venue on time, I'm always there when doors open so I don't miss the opening acts because I love to discover new music. I understand that it may be hard to get into music you're not familiar with, but if the artists are truly gifted, they will get your attention and you'll be singing and maybe even dancing along before you know it. The true test for me is when I'm moved enough by their performances that I end up buying their CDs at the show.

Two weekends ago, I went to see Andy Grammer at the House of Blues in Boston. Parachute (whom I already knew and loved) and Andrew Ripp were the openers. I had only heard of Andrew's name because he was listed as an opener, but I knew nothing else about him. When he took the stage with just his guitar and started singing, he blew me away. At one point, Andy Grammer came out on stage with his guitar to join Andrew on the keys to perform a beautiful song called "You Will Find Me." He ended his set with a song called "Peace Like A River" which is a song he wrote for his wife. Let me tell you, the ladies in the audience were really disappointed to find out he was taken! Andrew also joined Parachute during their set to sing "Gimme Some Lovin,'" which was made popular by The Blues Brothers. Oh, and his new CD features a duet with the amazing Vince Gill! How can you not love that? Luckily, he had his new CD, entitled "Won't Let Go" with him for sale at merch before it was actually available elsewhere, so I was able to snag one and listen to it on my drive home. "Won't Let Go" is now available on iTunes!

Another exceptional opener I have seen and fallen in love with was Andrew Allen when he opened for Joshua Radin back in Feb 2011 at the House of Blues in Boston. I was lucky enough to see him two more times in 2011 and have been waiting to see him again ever since. It was just Andrew and his acoustic guitar, which was fine by me because I love acoustic sets. He had a certain charismatic quality about him that drew me in immediately. Even though I had never heard of him or his music, I fell in love with his original music. I love how his love songs are happy, upbeat love songs, such as "Loving You Tonight." He really got the crowd going with a great rendition of Sublime's "Love Is What I Got." An original song of his that really touched me was a song called "Sooner" which he wrote about a man in love whose only regret was that he wished he had met his lady sooner! Aww...that was the sweetest! Check out his self-titled EP, Andrew Allen.

Maybe guys named Andrew are just naturally musically talented and have great stage presence and that's why these two in particular stood out to me. I don't know, but believe it or not, there are other artists not named Andrew who have caught my attention at first look/listen, such as Rachel Platten, Tristan Prettyman, Mikey Wax, Brett Young and Matt Hires. I encourage everyone to get to concerts early and be there to support the opening acts. Even if you can't financially support them by buying CDs/merch, they love your moral support by just being in the audience. After all, they are there to support the headliners you are there to see. You never know, they could be the next big thing and you can say, I knew them way back when! And if you don't already know these artists, check them out. I promise you that you won't be sorry!