Renald LohConcert Review: Echosmith
There’s something about siblings who play together in a band that add a bit of oomph in the group. Noel and Liam Gallagher in Oasis, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb in The Bee Gees, and The Jackson 5 to name a few.
Of course, it’s a long way to go before Graham, Noah, Sydney and Jamie Sierota of the indie-pop Echosmith reach the heights of the aforementioned legends, although they have a great head start at just 16, 18, 19, and 22 years old respectively.
Jamie, the lead guitarist and eldest of the siblings, wasn’t able to attend the concert however, as the soon-to-be father had other more important matters to attend – his wife was expected to give birth “soon-ish”.
Speaking at their press conference in the Hard Rock Hotel’s Hall of Fame a couple of hours before the show, Noah, who plays bass guitar, admitted that they never planned for them to form a quartet.
“We had played for years before we ever brought it together. It wasn’t until like 8 years ago that we thought: ‘Oh, we all play different instruments. We can make a band!’ Then we started playing shows whenever we could, doing covers and writing originals, and we’re here right now,” the curly-haired blonde recalled.
Talking Sydney
YouTube star and musician David Choi opened right on time at 8pm for the Los Angeles-based band, and it was a little over an hour later before the crowd got what they were looking for.
Graham, Noah, and a replacement guitarist whom they only identified as ‘Josh’, strutted onto stage in that order, and played the opening beats of “Ran off in the Night”. It wasn’t long before everyone at The Coliseum raptured into applause upon seeing the group’s charismatic female lead walked in.
As dazzled as the male members in the audience were by Sydney’s beautiful white dress, it seemed a rather odd choice to kick the concert off with one of their mellower tunes in Talking Dreams. Fortunately, they picked up the pace and got the crowd bouncing a little more with the pacier “Let’s Love”, titular track “Talking Dreams”, and “Come Together” in quick succession.
The Young and Old
This writer somewhat expected majority of those who showed up at the concert to know only a couple of Echosmith’s songs, considering the clear dichotomy of YouTube views between their chart-toppers and album fillers. Judging by the way most in the crowd stood still only with their arms aloft clutching their mobile recording devices, we were probably right.
It was only when the band signalled for everyone to sing along to the night’s seventh track and their second most popular song “Bright” that those gathered showed some sort of enthusiasm although what quickly followed was most definitely the most awkward part of the whole concert.
“Come with Me” was up next on the song list and Sydney had called for a boy and girl to join the band up on stage for some tango. All is well as the male tribute made his way up with the help of crowd lifting intervention, but things got weird fast, when Sydney signalled to another face in the crowd – a face much more innocent than that of the guy.
“She looks 12!” UrbanWire heard some rather bewildered people in the crowd exclaim. While the girl was made to dance with the gangly man probably twice her age, Sydney probably realised she had picked an odd combination, although we gave her full kudos for improvising her commentary of what was supposed to be a love track, to something more child friendly.
A Digital Cacophony
That rather epitomised the young band’s inexperienced efforts at engaging the crowd. Throughout the concert, their words revolved around the vague (“Are you having fun Singapore?”) and typical (“We’d like to thank everyone for coming out”).
But of course, they can’t be faulted, considering the performers were younger than most of the people who turned up to watch them. In fact, it was really endearing that the band bothered to take as many crowd selfies, and even attempted to get the audience involved in a hand-percussion clapping session.
After a cover of Modern English’s “I Melt With You”, “Nothing’s Wrong” and “We’re Not Alone”, the band segued into their most famous song as if it was just another. Enter “Cool Kids”, and everyone’s phones were lifted in unison to record the performance from start to end, much to the chagrin of this writer, because why pay $78 to have a recording of a good song on your phone instead of enjoying the music in person.
It ain’t a bad concert after all. Echosmith’s strengths lie in their raw musical talent, with every member able to play more than 1 instrument (Sydney accompanied her singing with backup drums and a tambourine). Getting the crowd pumped is an attainable skill that the chatty bunch would surely grow to learn, and we’ll be looking forward to that for their next visit – with Jamie, of course.
Setlist
- Ran Off In The Night
- Let’s Love
- Talking Dreams
- Come Together
- This Must Be The Place (The Talking Heads Cover)
- Tell Her You Love Her
- Bright
- Come With Me
- I Melt With You (Modern English Cover)
- Nothing’s Wrong
- We’re Not Alone
- Cool Kids
Encore:
- Up To You
Were you there with us at The Coliseum for Echosmith Live in Singapore? Tell us your favourite part of the concert in the comments below!
Photos courtesy of Warner Music Singapore