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John Newman at the Varsity Theater Flyer
photo: John
Setlist
Tour Dates
01/16/14 San Francisco, CA – Popscene
Read More01/18/14 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall 03/27/14 Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club 03/28/14 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts 03/29/14 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club 04/02/14 New York, NY – Webster Hall 04/03/14 Montreal, QC – Virgin Mobile Corona 04/05/14 Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall 04/07/14 Chicago, IL – Metro 04/08/14 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater 04/10/14 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater 04/13/14 Coachella Festival —Indio, CA 04/14/14 San Francisco, CA – Independent 04/16/14 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile 04/17/14 Vancouver, BC – Venue 04/18/14 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge 04/20/14 Coachella Festival —Indio, CA
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UK blued-eyed Northern Soul/pop is alive and well—
23 year-old phenom John Newman proved that in his sold-out show over the weekend at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis.
Local duo Commanders Handsome opened with just over 30 min. of “beat heavy casual landscapes” which found Doomtree Collective’s Cecil Otter and Solid Gold’s Zach Coulter both seated in front of a table amongst laptops, drum machine pads, and keyboards.
The songs very much invoked a bass-throbbing, even more laid back version of Solid Gold’s sound (with Coulter handling all vocals) that was both pleasant to listen to, and happened to serve as background music for most people’s conversations.
Both are notable musicians in their own right and come from very different circles, but seem to work in this collaboration that can be experienced again (and again), as they’ve booked an every-Thursday night residency at the nearby Loring Pasta Bar for a month, starting February 6th.
Following an oddly-long break of almost an hour (almost as long as John Newman’s own headlining set) that made the crowd more restless and noisy, lights finally went down and a pre-recorded intro track of Newman naming a laundry list of acts that are his inspiration began, which then segued into the title track from his just-released debut album (Tribute, on Universal/Republic).
Newman hit the stage foot-shuffling end-to-end in a dark suit with white shirt, sleeves rolled up, backed by impressive lighting, and accompanied by a four-piece band and two background singers.
“Minneapolis, you look amazing”, Newman remarked after an anthemic ‘Try’, following it with the high-energy UK single, ‘Cheating’. Though a relative newcomer, the Settle, Yorkshire native seemed to have a good grasp of stage presence and how to entertain a crowd, with women screaming every time he spun in front of the microphone or dipped slightly into the audience.
Newman is truly a one-man dynamo- writing, playing, producing, remixing, and even designing his own clothes. And, with now over 100 million You Tube/Vevo views and hitting the chart top in twenty countries, the U.S. is playing catch-up to what most of Europe already knows.
The sweeping ballad ‘Easy’ melded into the piano-driven clap-a-long, ‘All You Need’, then the slower, ‘Out of My Head’, which details an extreme loneliness and dealing with it by way of the bottle, Newman’s tenor emoting the desperation in the lyrics.
“This song is a song I get really excited about playing”, Newman introduced his third UK single, 'Losing Sleep', with lyrics about someone left afraid and alone, over a driving drumbeat and symphonic melody. ‘Gold Dust’, an R&B-flavored stomper about being betrayed and opening up about it, ended the main set with great flourish.
The encore started gently, with piano ballad ‘Not Giving In’ before kicking into overdrive with the international hit, ‘Love Me Again’, which found the crowd clapping in time and singing the chorus back to Newman acapella, and even louder than he had sung it to us.
“See you in three months!” Newman exclaimed before he left the stage, knowing we would all have another chance to see him, on the just-announced April 8th date of his more proper Spring Tour, en route to Coachella and the West Coast later in the month.
The one regret is that we didn’t hear versions of either of the two Rudimental songs that helped put Newman on the map, but luckily, we’ll have another chance to possibly hear them this Spring.
23 year-old phenom John Newman proved that in his sold-out show over the weekend at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis.
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Commanders Handsome
photo: Vu
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The songs very much invoked a bass-throbbing, even more laid back version of Solid Gold’s sound (with Coulter handling all vocals) that was both pleasant to listen to, and happened to serve as background music for most people’s conversations.
Both are notable musicians in their own right and come from very different circles, but seem to work in this collaboration that can be experienced again (and again), as they’ve booked an every-Thursday night residency at the nearby Loring Pasta Bar for a month, starting February 6th.
Following an oddly-long break of almost an hour (almost as long as John Newman’s own headlining set) that made the crowd more restless and noisy, lights finally went down and a pre-recorded intro track of Newman naming a laundry list of acts that are his inspiration began, which then segued into the title track from his just-released debut album (Tribute, on Universal/Republic).
|
John Newman
photo: John
|
“Minneapolis, you look amazing”, Newman remarked after an anthemic ‘Try’, following it with the high-energy UK single, ‘Cheating’. Though a relative newcomer, the Settle, Yorkshire native seemed to have a good grasp of stage presence and how to entertain a crowd, with women screaming every time he spun in front of the microphone or dipped slightly into the audience.
Newman is truly a one-man dynamo- writing, playing, producing, remixing, and even designing his own clothes. And, with now over 100 million You Tube/Vevo views and hitting the chart top in twenty countries, the U.S. is playing catch-up to what most of Europe already knows.
The sweeping ballad ‘Easy’ melded into the piano-driven clap-a-long, ‘All You Need’, then the slower, ‘Out of My Head’, which details an extreme loneliness and dealing with it by way of the bottle, Newman’s tenor emoting the desperation in the lyrics.
“This song is a song I get really excited about playing”, Newman introduced his third UK single, 'Losing Sleep', with lyrics about someone left afraid and alone, over a driving drumbeat and symphonic melody. ‘Gold Dust’, an R&B-flavored stomper about being betrayed and opening up about it, ended the main set with great flourish.
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"Official" Setlist
photo: John
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“See you in three months!” Newman exclaimed before he left the stage, knowing we would all have another chance to see him, on the just-announced April 8th date of his more proper Spring Tour, en route to Coachella and the West Coast later in the month.
The one regret is that we didn’t hear versions of either of the two Rudimental songs that helped put Newman on the map, but luckily, we’ll have another chance to possibly hear them this Spring.
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John Newman at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (01/11/14) photo: Vu
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