by Lauren Rosier
Empty tables and spaces were sparse as a crowd waited with anticipatory excitement at World Cafe Live on Thursday night. The Voice’s Luke Wade and Matt McAndrew filled up the room with fans of all ages and all walks of life in support of both artists.
At 8:00 PM, McAndrew took the stage to yells of excitement. He was joking that he just gotten rid of his old loop pedal and had gotten a new one, and that if he screwed up, he’d start over. Despite his reservations, the music sounded great, as he began the set with the first single, “Carried Away,” off his latest EP, Rush In Slowly.
McAndrew performed fan favorites from The Voice like Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” and Damien Rice’s “The Blower’s Daughter.” He also played a beautiful, new song from his upcoming EP titled “Just a Boy” where he sang “…I’m just a boy to you/that never had a chance/it was over before it began…”
McAndrew was so funny talking in between songs about his loop pedal and various other things. He ended the hour-long set with the title track from his latest EP.
Luke Wade took to the stage around 9 PM with a four-piece band accompanying him and opened his set with a new song, “Say It Out Loud,” from his new record, Only Ghosts. The song had elements of Americana and folk influences more so than the other tracks on the record.
One of my favorite songs on the record, “Kissing Makeup,” was heartfelt and beautifully sung. His voice sounded amazing and his songwriting has this way of evoking emotion.
His versatility is commendable. He had people dancing when he performed “Morning View,” an upbeat track about being truly happy and finding someone that you want to wake up to each morning. Wade slowed it down on “While I Was Away” where he sung about a relationship in turmoil. “While I Was Away” is a very honest and emotional song if you pay close attention to the lyrics, you can hear the emotional heartbreak that was endured.
Songs like “On Fire” and “Passenger Side,” showed his passionate side where he sang “I want that sneaking out the back door/just to come and pick you up/throwing pebbles at your window/come on baby let’s go/so let’s find an open road/so I can show you where it goes/we’re feeling young and wild and free/just like we’re meant to be…”
He came back with two-song encore. During “Till The Fighting Is Through”, Wade talked about the struggles he endured after the show; feeling lost and discouraged when he’d think there’d be tons of people coming, yet less than 20 fans would show up. It’s a song, he says, he uses as a reminder to himself to keep going.
He ended with a cover of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” a track he recorded with fellow Voice alum, Mia Z, with proceeds going to Susan B. Komen cancer research.
The one thing about Wade and McAndrew is that they’re always acting grateful, humble, and so kind to the people that support them. For both of them, their rise in the music industry was different, but the buzz surrounding them continues to grow due to the quality songwriting, production, and voices that they showcase.
