I never thought I would listen to folk/singer-songwriter, indie pop, and R&B all in one night, but folks, on March 29th, it happened at The Crocodile. It was a night full of really great artists who brought very different, but equally awesome, things to the stage. So, let’s get started, shall we?
My main man, Bryan John Appleby was up first. BJA is a folk singer-songwriter local to Seattle. He played a solo set—just him, his guitar, his beautiful voice, and me drooling in the audience. One of my favorite things about Appleby is that he seems like a humble, simple guy. He walked on stage quietly, tuned his guitar, introduced himself quickly and started playing his first song. Most of his set comprised of brand new songs, which, by the way, were fantastic. I cannot wait until he comes out with a new album, as his last album, Fire on the Vine, came out in 2011 and left me wanting more ever since. He did, however, play some familiar songs such as “Backseat.” He ended his set with an audience request of “Honey Jars,” which, 1) is one of my favorite songs of all time and 2) was just as beautiful live as it is on recording. If you haven’t listened to it, I would definitely recommend it. It will break your heard and complete it all at the same time.
ELEL, a self-proclaimed indie pop band hailing from Nashville, put on a very fun set that switched the vibes in the room from slow and relaxing to super upbeat. Having not ever listened to very much of their music beforehand, I was very impressed at how fun they were to watch and listen to. They had amazing stage presence (cute, awkward dancing involved) and looked like they were genuinely having fun while they played music. Their set also featured some killer saxophone solos from Stephen and cool dancing from bassist, Jo Jo. They played their most popular song, “40 Watt,” which was a blast to listen and dance to. Its definitely one of those songs where you pretty much don’t really know what they are saying but its good anyway. Overall, ELEL was such a fun band and I would definitely recommend seeing them if you have the chance.
I want to say that Shaprece came on immediately after, but there was this weird (but kind of cool) mini set where her producer and an electric upright bass player just played instrumentals for 15 minutes. It definitely threw me off for a bit and left me asking, “what even is going on?” but after the first two songs, I thought it was kind of cool. Once Shaprece finally came on, the crowd cheered as she greeted her hometown fans. Her sound is a sweet blend of R&B and electronic, which I have been digging a lot lately. Shaprece has an incredibly strong and powerful voice suited for R&B, but with the addition of the electronics and electric upright bass, her music blends a bunch of different genres to make up her ultimate sound. They played some of her songs including “Her Song,” (which was my personal favorite) and “Reverie.”
So although I came into this with not a lot of expectations, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed all of the performances. I originally decided to go to this show with my main intention to see Bryan John Appleby because he is one of my favorite artists. I did not really know of or listen to ELEL or Shaprece prior to this show. With that said, I was completely impressed by these three performers as they brought something completely unique to each set. Who said you can’t listen to three different genres at one concert? I just did, and it rocked!
April Jingco / Man Bun Supporter / KXSU Writer