Concert Review - Gavin Degraw

I have to admit, I'd never really listened to Gavin Degraw much. I knew some of his songs on the radio, and liked them, but other than that I'd never had the urge to go out and purchase one of his records. A friend of mine, who's a huge fan of his, saw he was coming to Philadelphia on April 22nd and invited me to come. I'm always up for a concert, plus, one of the openers was HoneyHoney (see earlier blogs) whom I love.

We arrived around four and there was already a line. I'm not surprised by this, I'd get in line ten hours early to see some of my favorite bands. The wait was long due to cold and eventual rain pelting down on our shivering bodies. We were let in around seven and made it into second row with short people in front of us (always a plus). After an hour wait, Joey Degraw, Gavin's brother, opened with an acoustic set. I wasn't too impressed. Each song sounded the same as the previous, to me at least.

Next came HoneyHoney. Ben and Suzanne have such great chemistry and always play to the audience. Their songs are a mix of jazz, pop, and blue-grass--not usually the type of music I'm into, but Suzanne is a smart songwriter and Ben is a fabulous musician. They played for a good half-hour, which wasn't nearly enough. They said they would be back by their merch after the set, but we couldn't move from our spots. Unfortunately, they would be gone by the end of the show. I've yet to actually meet them.

Gavin Degraw came on around 9:30 and played for almost two hours. He started out slow and a little quiet for my taste. I had seen videos of his performances before and was surprised. He started to pick up the pace after the second song, and then there was no turning back. His energy was high, playing both piano and guitar. He'd come to the front of the stage and play to the numerous hands reaching up towards him, desperate for contact. His humor also shows, forgetting his lyrics in the middle of one song and trying to look them up on his cell phone. Luckily his guitarist, who was very young and talented, helped him out and he could finish the song. You could tell the crowd really loved and appreciated him. The words to all his songs bounced back from the crowd and returned to the stage. A sold out crowd is always fun.

Afterwards, they were holding a meet & greet for fifty people who bought merch before the show. We hung around until being kicked out, and then debated whether or not to wait around outside. We decided we wanted to meet him, so we went back to my friend's car to get a sweater and blanket. We ran into the drummer walking his dog and got a picture. We sat outside the venue and waited...for over an hour. People with wristband kept coming out and it was getting colder. When we weren't expecting it, Gavin suddenly popped out of the venue on his own and walked right up to us. He thanked us for waiting and was sorry that we had to do it in the cold. He was very nice and signed things for us, as well as taking pictures. It was a great way to end the night. A good show, as well as meeting the artist always puts me in a good mood. And we only got home by 1 am. Ha, that's nothing.