Ben Rector Setlist
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Young and rising singer, songwriter Jacob Whiteside opened up the show. Since the band has been opening up for all of Rector’s shows since September 2016, you can tell his band is incredibly tight, playing songs after songs effortlessly.
We caught Whiteside earlier in June 2016 and noted that his fanbase was mostly teenage, recording every moment of Whiteside on their cellphone. Although only a few hardcore Whiteside fans can be spotted in the audience (and who can blame the others for not showing up as the venue’s website did not advertise Whiteside was playing), they were certainly standing up and being enthusiastic for their idol.
Since the band only had a 35-minute set, their set was shortened to about nine songs... meaning no covers like The Weeknd’s ‘I Can't Feel My Face’, but instead they focused on newer songs like ‘Open Book’.
Whiteside ended his set with ‘Lovesick’, a song that’s gotten some attention after the band appeared on ABC's Live with Kelly earlier in September. The song is the lead single off his debut album Why?, which debuted #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts, and is available now on Double U Records.
Nashville singer, songwriter Ben Rector’s biggest hit album Brand New came out last year on Aptly Named Recordings / Caroline. The record debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 chart and marked his first Top 10 album.
We caught Rector earlier in July 2016 and we predicted, “Ben Rector returns to town at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on October 23rd, for a full and proper show at his biggest local venue to date, which will no doubt be filled with the fans that know him so well, and maybe some newcomers too, that consider him brand new to their listening habits.”
With the last show of the tour, ending a nearly two-year endless touring, the band is well-rehearsed and seemingly eager to finally take a long vacation and break after that night - particularly for guitarist Cory Wong, who is actually from the Twin Cities. Wong, according to The Current in 2014 wrote that Cory Wong is “the most famous Minnesota musician you’ve probably never heard of”.
Looking over their set, Rector decided to save his biggest hit song ‘Brand New’ for the encore, but casual and dedicated fans knew this and stuck it out to the end.
Some great, well-placed covers like The Jackson 5’s ‘ABC’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ had great singalong chorus from the audience. In fact, Rector would occasionally just let the audience sing while he waves the microphone at the audience.
Ben Rector’s Brand New is out now. With over 390,000 albums and nearly four million digital tracks sold in the course of his career, it’s easy to see that this was the Biggest Ever tour (so far).
When Rector returns, expect him to go on an even bigger tour, with a bigger album, of course.
Jacob Whiteside |
Jacob Whiteside |
Ben Rector’s drummer Jake Goff |
Ben Rector |
Ben Rector at State Theatre, Minneapolis (23 October 2016) |
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