REVIEW: Christian French @ Sonia 9/15

By Grace Lauson

On Sunday night, Christian French took the stage at Sonia playing songs off his new EP The Bright Side of the Moon as well as some new, unreleased, music. Fans flooded the sold out show to sing along and support French’s new music. 

The show started out with opening artist ASTN (pronounced Austin). ASTN is a 20 year old singer, songwriter, and producer who is on his first ever tour opening up for French. He sang a variety of songs off his Leave Me Before I Love You EP including “Love No More” and “Tidal Wave.” ASTN showed off his impressive vocal range and excitement while on stage. He finished his set with his most popular song, “Flowers,” and left the audience both impressed and excited for the remainder of the show.

Minutes later, Christian French took the stage and the crowd went wild. It became clear that his fan base is extremely dedicated as the entire crowd sang along to his songs throughout the entire concert. French’s excitement and passion for performing was extremely prevalent. He started off the show singing “Superstars” and follow that with “Head First” and “Fall for You.” 

His show was very personal as he often prefaced his songs with the meaning behind them. This meant opening up about his mental health struggles and past relationships that drove him to write a few of the songs, such as “Dying Love.” Giving this personal insight added to the effect of the song and made for a very intimate connection between French and his audience. He went on to sing “Sweet Home,” “Hungover Sunday,” and “Paper Thin” (an unreleased song).

About half way through the show French asked the whole audience to put their phones away to listen to an unreleased song. He explained that he wanted the crowd to live in the moment and simply enjoy the song called “Time of Our Lives.” For this particular song, as well as several others, Christian sat down and sang while playing the piano to complement the music from the rest of his band. 

He kept his energy up throughout the whole show and saved his biggest hits for last. He played “Love Ride” to end the show but then came back for the encore where he played his hit song with over 31 million listens on Spotify, “By Myself.” The crowd cheered, danced, and sang along for the final time before the concert ended. Afterwards, he followed the show with a free meet and greet. 

Christian radiated positivity and kept high energy throughout the entire show. It was really impressive to watch and it seems as if Christian’s career is only going up from here!