Hello Everyone!
This is a review that I wrote from when I attended a Boyce Avenue concert in June 2012. I thought that I would share it with you.
Concert
Review: Boyce Avenue, band of three brothers stunned crowd in London.
American acoustic,
rock band sing a collection of their best songs and most loved covers to a
sold-out Hammersmith Apollo.
When Boyce Avenue announced they
were going to be touring the UK for the seventh time, fans flocked straight to
the box office to get them a ticket to the musical experience. As many don’t
know who Boyce Avenue are, people underestimated their power to sell out 5000
tickets to a packed out Hammersmith Apollo in London. They did it!
The American three piece band-
made up of; Daniel Manzano, bass player, Fabian Manzano, guitarist and led by
youngest brother Alejandro Manzano- impressed their adoring fans with a backlog
of their album tracks and a mixture of loved covers. Boyce Avenue are known for
their covers of songs on YouTube, at one point they were the second most
searched band on YouTube, behind Americas great rock band, Linkin Park with
over 600 million views and counting. Putting this aside they are only known due
to the internet, in the UK they have never appeared on the radio or TV, this
doesn’t seem to hinder their success. As this year alone they have toured
around the UK and Ireland twice; with the first time at the beginning of the
year with UK boy band One Direction and now their own headline tour. Their
biggest yet!
Before Boyce Avenue could grace
the stage singing their hits, their support acts Alex Goot and Tyler Hilton
came out to showcase their talents in front of the 5000 strong audience. Due to
vast queues outside the Apollo and the slow paced ticket collection staff, the
majority of the fans missed Alex Goot’s set- Not with too much disappointment I
suppose. After the noisy rabble of 5000 voices had settled down in their seats,
Tyler Hilton took to the stage. For those who don’t know who he is, he is most
known for his role as ‘Chris Keller’ on US TV drama ‘One Tree Hill’, on the
programme he portrayed a musician so fans had an idea of what to expect prior
to the concert. As a result of his star status from One Tree Hill, when the
deep, husky voice began to sing, the fans seemed ecstatic that he was there to
perform. Hilton performed an assortment of his songs, so simply and
acoustically, it was as if he was singing a series of love stories; including
songs such as ‘Prince of Nothing Charming’ and ‘Loaded Gun’. The fans were
amazed by his power to be on stage, just him and a guitar, and still managed to
entertain the crowd exceptionally. Even people, who were previously not fans, were
wowed and became fans. To finish his set he sung an unknown, underrated cover
of Britain’s best, Coldplay’s ‘Us against the World’, which went down very
well. Even so, Tyler filmed himself and the crowd during the song and later
uploaded it to his YouTube channel.
It was Tyler Hilton’s very first
time in London and he seemed to love and appreciate every minute of his
performance. He was in awe of the crowd’s reaction to him that he vowed to tour
the UK again.
After a short interval, anxious fans
finally got to see who they’d been so patiently waiting for. Boyce Avenue took
to the stage appearing through the mist to hoards of hysterical screaming fans.
One by one they came and slowly collected their instruments and took their
places; Alejandro centre stage, with equally talented brothers either side. The
mist seemed to suddenly disappear as the lights were raised and there they
were, Boyce Avenue, ready to put on a great show. Starting the night of amazing
live music, was a very cleverly mastered medley of ‘Daylight’ and ‘Tonight’
which went down a treat with the crowd. After performing a few more of their
own songs, the once screaming fans now turned into an enthusiastic choir as
together with Boyce Avenue they sung a medley of some of their best pop covers;
‘What Makes You Beautiful’, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Dynamite’. There was a sense
of passion within the fans to join in and have fun as much as they could.
Boyce Avenue were nothing but
thankful to the devoted audience, none more so than trusting the crowd to
experience a love story in the making. When gaining the crowds full attention,
Alejandro introduced one of the bands friends and his girlfriend to the stage,
neither the 5000 fans nor the girlfriend knew what romantic gesture was just about
to take place. The friend took to mic talking to everyone, pouring out his
feelings for his girlfriend, then got down on one knee and proposed. All 5000
people managed to be hush for this spectacle holding their breaths awaiting the
answer. As a simple YES rang through the mic, the Hammersmith Apollo roared
with excitement and happiness for the newly engaged couple.
This same excitement remained
until the end; Boyce Avenue performed an encore of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ which again
allowed the entire audience to sing along to this heart-warming song. It was
almost like a bunch of walruses wailing together as the crowd tried to hit
those high notes. To end such a fabulous night they sung ‘Hear Me Now’, which
shows off their abilities to entertain and involve a crowd, splitting the
audience in half to get each side to sing different parts of the chorus. This
set up is traditionally used in their shows, so old fans would know what to
expect. This once 3 minute song had now turned into a 10 minute encore version,
finishing with Boyce Avenue thanking the crowd for being such a great audience
and gracefully taking a bow overlooking the admiring crowd.
The volume of high pitched
screams throughout and the crowd’s response can only reassure Boyce Avenue of
being welcomed to return to perform in the UK again. This was the best concert
you could ever attend, the atmosphere was immense, fans joining in to sing the
chorus, jumping, clapping, crying and cheering. Never have I been so totally
amazed by what I witnessed at a concert before, it was so worth the money.
Boyce Avenue, have now been established as a worthy, talented singing act to
wow the crowds in years to come, they deserve all the fame and recognition they
get. Boyce Avenue, Exceptional Talent!
