by Ashley Stanley
My Silent Bravery is becoming increasingly popular on YouTube and before I saw him live, I couldn’t understand why. I couldn’t like his nice guy image as a girl who’s into bad boys, and I certainly didn’t like his country-influenced pop sound as a self-proclaimed nonconformist. And yet I can’t seem to get those songs out of my head.
I watched My Silent Bravery with an open mind and was truly impressed. Accompanied by his extremely talented saxophonist, Matthew Wade (My Silent Bravery) played each song stripped-down acoustic, which I much preferred to the recorded versions I’d previously heard. The two were charmingly humble on stage, allowing the audience to connect with them on a level that felt very human. It was as if they surrendered everything they’d ever been told about the business of music and just played the show. They played beautifully.
The duo performed their most popular songs including “To Give”—a tune originally recorded with the popular Jewish reggae singer, Matisyahu—and “Burnt Out”, a song about unrequited love. They also did a fantastic stripped-down cover of Nelly’s “Take A Ride With Me.”
Following Wade’s final song, “Amazing”, female singer/songwriter Brynn Elliott gave a lovely solo performance of her original songs, accompanied by Tyler Ward’s lead guitarist for a few cover songs. Though I could not hear much of what she said between sets, her singing was effortlessly beautiful. Her cover of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” was my favorite performance of the entire night.
If you’ve ever seen a performance by an old friend or neighbor or your boyfriend’s little sister, anyone you know with hidden talent in music, if you’ve ever seen someone you know completely transform into something unrecognizably beautiful in the presence of an audience, this is how it felt to watch Brynn Elliott perform.
Tyler Ward on the other hand, made me wonder why he was performing at the HardRock Cafe on a Monday night. Though he is not someone I would ever download in my iTunes library, I cannot deny that this kid was born to play music. Backed by a girl on drums, his cousin on bass and Elliot’s lead-guitarist, Tyler’s presence on stage is big enough to play a sold-out show at the Colosseum. His young energy and involvement with the band and audience alike would get a deaf man excited about his music. I’m excited to have seen him so early in his career, as I know someday soon he’ll be everywhere and I’ll be forced to hear my little sister blasting his music on the radio.
My Silent Bravery will be touring with Tyler Ward for the remainder of the summer. Catch him this November when he returns to Philly with Anna Nalick at World Cafe Live.
