Andy Grammer took a break from playing huge rooms all over the country to play come home and play a sold out show to Gramercy Theater and the city welcomed him with open arms and loud cheers.
To amp up the crowd, Grammer brought in New York locals, AJR and the show was a sight to see.
Who is AJR? Well they are three brothers, Adam, Ryan and Jack Met; Ryan co-wrote two tracks on Grammer’s new album but the band has earned quite a large following of its own accord. The energy that AJR exudes is startling but a lot of fun to watch. The lead singer of the band, Jack is passionate and he is a lot of fun to watch dancing around like someone in a pit at a punk rock show in the early 2000s.
AJR is best known for its song, “I’m Ready” that samples from Spongebob Squarepants. The video for the song has over 12 million views thanks to getting in rotation on Sirius Xm Hits 1. The band has a sound that mixes pop, electronic and dub-step and is a unique sound to say the least. I was most impressed by the band’s song, “Thirsty Thursday.” Interestingly enough, Jack just graduated from high school but we’ll let the fact that he’s not 21 yet slide. AJR nails the fun, light-hearted vibe and has solid harmonies. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what in the world was happening on stage the entire time and I say that in the best way possible. Check them out.
Finally Andy Grammer took the stage and he is an amazing performer. His stage presence is undeniable and is a spectacle. He dances, sings, plays instruments, beat boxes, dances some more. If you see him perform once, you will most definitely want to see him again.
To start the show, Grammer kicked off his set with his song, “Kiss You Slow.” It isn’t the most upbeat song but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. He instantly upped the energy as soon as he hit his second song, “Keep Your Head Up.”
The highlights of the set were “Blame It On the Stars” and “Holding Out.” “Blame It On the Stars” involved a little bit of a beat boxing/rapping vibe, dancing, and some choreographed moves. He upped the dance moves with “Holding Out” though. First of all, the song is super cute, or well as cute as a song that mentions porn could be. Secondly, Grammer busts out the trumpet and puts it on a loop then adds some beat boxing to the loop. That was cool enough as it was but each band member added an element to the loop and then the whole band did a serious choreographed breakdown. I would see Grammer again just to watch this song be performed for a second time.
It takes a lot of charisma to become an entertainer and Grammer has that in spades. He starts talking to the crowd about his song, “Kamikaze.” He mentioned that he performed the song a few times and people bugged him to release it so he rereleased his album with the song as a bonus track. He then said that there are definitely some of you who are like no, no I did not ask for that. He is funny, talented, and just comes across as a carefree person.
As the show progressed fans were given the opportunity to hear a lot of Grammer’s older material. He has been playing larger venues and mentioned that he doesn’t want to leave the small sold out room that was Gramercy Theatre. The crowd was into every song, singing, dancing, embracing everything Grammer did. He created a very sweet moment when he brought Rachel Platten on stage. He said she is like a sister to him and has toured with her a lot and was juts so happy that her song, “Fight Song” was the number one song on iTunes that day. They performed “Fight Song” as a duet and had fun harmonies. She looked truly ecstatic to be on stage performing the song and he looked like such a proud older brother.
As the show winded down he performed his biggest singles, “Honey I’m Good,” “Fine By Me,” and “Back Home” so the encore was a big mystery to the audience who all looked around quizzically wondering if he was even going to take the stage again. Grammer did return for a one song encore, a cover of Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars.” I had no idea that he could beat box as well as he does when he started the song. His talents are astonishing and he is the penultimate performer.
Set List
Kiss You Slow
Keep Your Head Up
Miss Me
Blame it On the Stars
Holdin Out
Forever
Kamikaze
Ladies
Crazy Beautiful
Sinner
The Pocket
Lunatic
Co-Pilot
Fight Song
Honey, I’m Good.
Fine By Me
Back Home
Chasing Cars
