concert review: Gavin Degraw at GAMH 31 March 2009

The night commenced with a set by a young lady named Angel Taylor, and her style was only fit for any person opening for Gavin Degraw. She wore her heart on her sleeve and concealed nothing in her lyrics, which were seeping with the pains of heartbreak. Her piano playing and her voice were both good, but nothing spectacular. I’ve seen too many incredible openers (Delta Spirit, Voxtrot, The Helio Sequence, Wild Sweet Orange) that mediocre ones (even border-line good) have been ruined forever.


Taylor captured the audience’s attention, I’ll give her that, and was stoked to see her “first legit sign” (someone had written “I <3 Angel Taylor” on a white cloth). She covered the Campbell ’s jingle and closed with an Adele song("Hometown Glory").

Because the show began at 9PM , the set ups and other things were super efficient, and Gavin Degraw approached the stage at 10:02 , heartily welcomed by screams and applause. His set began really weakly--with a song called "Dancing Shoes" off of his second album, and a cover of "Indian Summer" by Chris Whitley-- mostly because there were some technical difficulties and the amps weren’t set up properly for the electric set from his accompanying band (he was on piano throughout the night, leaving it only a couple of times for rhythm guitar).

Then, Gavin busted out a gem off of his first record (“Follow Through”) and everything fell into place. The rest of the set flowed beautifully, mostly because he peppered it with songs from his debut album Chariot. I honestly never bought either his second album (I have a few songs from it and it’s not very good) nor do I plan on getting his latest release, Free, but I was very pleased that I got to experience Chariot before he outgrew it completely. It was strange to see Gavin in person, because I never got over the image of him as a youngin, with a beanie, inconspicuously holding a leaf and singing about drugs and young love--two subjects that never seem to get old. But being over thirty hasn’t completely killed his spirit yet, as he was interacting with the audience with the enthusiasm of a twenty-something. He seemed quite pleased that the audience acquiesced and sang along with him.

Overall, it was good show, everyone (including the band) was having a great time and the only person left a tad disappointed was me, not having heard my favourite song of his ("Nice to Meet You Anyway"). Then again, his energy when singing “Chemical Party” more than made up for it.

3.25/5

Set List:



pictures:







for videos, head on over to my YOUTUBE page. I took videos of all of the Chariot songs which Gavin sang, the covers he did, and a couple of newer songs too.