Review by Isabelle Ireland<\/p>\n
Grace Enger played at The Sonia on March 5 for her \u201cIt\u2019s No Fun\u201d Tour. She and Jake Minch, her opener, were playing a sold-out show. Jake Minch is an incredible indie pop and folk music player, who I luckily got to see perform with Grace later in her set.<\/span><\/p>\n Before Grace\u2019s set, the stage was lit blue and the crowd was lit with red lights. Her fans anxiously waited for her to come out with signs held high.<\/span><\/p>\n As Grace\u2019s band members walked on stage, the lights turned purple and Grace walked on stage ready to play guitar and sing her heart out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, the audio quality was low for the whole performance, so it was hard to understand the lyrics. Also, the instruments were overpowering Grace\u2019s amazing voice.<\/span><\/p>\n It really was incredible to see all that Grace and her two bandmates could accomplish. She had a brand new drummer play for her who had been playing throughout the tour, and her childhood best friend played bass guitar, electric guitar and the keys. Grace herself played the piano, electric, and acoustic guitar, all while singing throughout the show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For her first songs, there were very upbeat tunes which hid the sad lyrics of her songs. Regardless of the meaning, her fans were still jumping around, dancing and singing along. Each time the song went quieter, Grace would turn her head away from the mic to hear her loyal fans sing the lyrics she had written.<\/span><\/p>\n She was very breathy but also energetic. I wish she sounded more confident, but she was great and it seems her breathiness was purposeful considering the contents of the song.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She hits these strong low notes throughout the song which was very impressive considering she had been singing higher and breathier all night. She made the show feel very intimate by smiling at fans and offering to sign posters and t-shirts at the end of her set.<\/span><\/p>\n She then played \u201cThe Alchemist.\u201d Her ability to be so soft spoken and also being punk rock is very unique but pairs well with her music. The alchemist really plays to her strengths in terms of voice. There\u2019s a lot of lower parts for her to elongate and it\u2019s not too high of a pitch for her. This song is really well made for her as she hits every note with ease as opposed to her other songs that are a little higher pitched. You can tell she uses her gut to sing these low notes as opposed to her squeezing out high notes from her chest.<\/span><\/p>\n She is definitely new to performing, as it seemed hard for her to take breaks between songs and just talk. She did get more comfortable throughout the night and certainly had some notable funny moments, like when she asked if we \u201clike to bark in Boston\u201d and the crowd responded with numerous barks.<\/span><\/p>\n When she played \u201cDie Hard,\u201d the stage was golden and she sang with strain on her throat in the intro but flowed well into her own octave soon enough. There was an adorable fan project that made her tear up with the crowd all holding signs saying \u201cwe see you.\u201d She started dancing around and almost knocked over her mic while having her fun performing. She definitely feels this song really hard and was able to hit an amazing high note by belting.<\/span><\/p>\n Halfway through her set, she thanked Boston and cracked more jokes. \u201cMy cousins are here and my highschool friends and even the mayor but Ben Affleck couldn\u2019t make it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She then hopped on the electric guitar to play her second recorded song ever, \u201cThe Cut.\u201d While fans listened, they hugged, swayed and cried.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A lot of her songs are meant to be performed, which is really adorable\u2014how she writes for her fans to feel included.<\/span><\/p>\n The stage lights turned red. \u201cI wrote this next one in college in New York staring out of my fire escape thinking about a guy who did me dirty and one of the first songs I thought maybe I want people to hear these so this is \u2018Bad Guy.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After that relatable song, she warned fans that it was the time to tell her fans \u201cit’s about to get very sad\u201d \u2014 even though all of her songs are sad. \u201cI mean the beat has a kick in there so this one is \u2018I Miss You at Night\u2019 and I don’t know if you’re missing someone you can listen to this song and cry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The lights faded into blue and the vibe of the room completely changed. It felt like the whole room got hit by intense sadness as she played through the song.<\/span><\/p>\n She dismissed her bands and announced she would be asking a pressing question. \u201cHow did you like the opener Jake Minch?\u201d The crowd clapped and hollered. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly how I feel. You know we are touring together and we have a song together and I think it would be rude if I didn\u2019t ask him to come sing with me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jake came on stage and the two of them sang \u201cGood Stuff\u201d which was completely heart wrenching. Their voices blended so well together and they seemed to have some kind of chemistry which added so many levels to the song.<\/span><\/p>\n After Jake left the stage, Grace played a few more acoustic songs on her own including \u201cWhen I Think of You\u201d which was not even on the setlist. Her breath control was well practiced as she sang long lines and she wrinkled her eyebrows showing how hard she was feeling her songs.<\/span><\/p>\n She went to the piano and was given a bunch of stuffed pickles from a fan. \u201cI was leaving school, moving across the country to do music, and I wasn\u2019t sure what the future was going to look like. It was making me stressed and I think I cried everyday which was super dramatic and it led me to this song. This is called \u201820.\u2019\u201d The song made me personally choke up as a late 19-year-old, and if that is also you I highly recommend giving the song a listen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Her next song was \u201cA Year From Now.\u201d She said it was ironic because she wrote it last year and exactly a year later was when she started this tour. She was really feeling the music and ad libbing. It’s so adorable seeing singers dance to their own music. I loved seeing it and even the band is dancing as much as they can and lip syncing.<\/span><\/p>\n She only had two songs left, \u201cI want to dedicate this to you because without \u2018The Neighborhood\u2019 there is nothing.\u201d The vibes of this song were Disney\/early Miley Cyrus and the fans were stoked. She was dancing and doing some cute awkward skips and spins which seemed very on brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She ended her tour with \u201cIt\u2019s No Fun\u201d and she said \u201cBoston,\u201d so, of course, the crowd went crazy. Everyone was screaming to the rock vibes and when the song was over, the band played her off the stage.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, Grace Enger was a good show. As a young artist, she has a couple of things to work on but her songwriting and willingness to experiment will help her go far. I can\u2019t wait to see what she does next. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Review by Isabelle Ireland Grace Enger played at The Sonia on March 5 for her \u201cIt\u2019s No Fun\u201d Tour. She and Jake Minch, her opener, were playing a sold-out show. Jake Minch is an incredible indie pop and folk music player, who I luckily got to see perform with Grace later in her set. Before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22960,"featured_media":47055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[33,1128,218,2314,26,2313,115,231,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47056,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47054\/revisions\/47056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}