Comparison of Bands in Concert: Halsey and X Ambassadors

After I saw that X Ambassadors are listed as a similar artist to Halsey on Spotify, I thought of writing about their concerts and comparing them to one another since I've recently seen both.
On Februrary, 7th 2016, X Ambassadors played a show in Musik und Frieden, a rather small Club in Berlin Kreuzberg. The show was completely sold out and since they've just before made it into the Spotify Charts there were many fans who came very early so that they could stand in the first few lines.
Preact was Youtube Star Kelvin Jones (known for his song 'Call You Home'). His set was with about 20 minutes rather short but during the break he joined the crowd and was very open and friendly towards his fans.
After an equally short break, X Ambassadors came on stage and played a very energetic show. They've played 11 songs mostly from their new album 'VHS' and they were visibly enjoying being on stage.
Lead singer Sam Harris headed up the show by playing several soli on different instruments, e.g. on his saxophone or his guitar, and by entering the crowd. Still his voice was very strong and secure and sounded even better than on the records.
Yet, the crowd didn't only focus on Sam, since the other band members where energetically moving along, too and many people were impressed by Casey Harris, the blind piano playermof the band.
The very special and entertaining show made up for its shortness (just under 60 minutes) and it was worth much more than what I've paid (less than 15€).
I would highly recommend seeing their show to every one who enjoys their music. It was truely a magical evening and one I won't forget.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCndky2CRlg/

In contrast, Halsey, whose breakthrough also happened shortly before the show, played in Huxley's neue Welt, a bigger venue in Berlin Neukölln that fits 1600 people, on March, 3rd 2016. Due to her success, there were also many fans who came very early so that the line was already huge when I arrived at the venue. I heard that the first ones in line had been waiting since 7:30 am.

The preact, BØRNS, played a very great show but the crowd was quite sluggish and impatiently wainting for Halsey hence BØRNS could only delight a small part of the crowd. But the event manager definitely picked a good artist as a preact that actually fit to the main act.
After a surprisingly short break, Halsey came on stage at around 9:15 pm.
Her show started with her song Gasoline from her debut album 'Badlands' which made for a great intro. Halsey's voice was very secure from the very first second she started singing and she hit every tone right. Mostly the dark music along with great light effects and her voice created a special, mysterious atmosphere which let the show seem surrreal and magical. She also used the huge space of the room, disappearing from stage and reappearing at the left side of the room.
Throughout the whole show, she was very sweet and funny, talking to the crowd in a humble and very thankful way. She interacted with the crowd a lot, telling stories, letting the crowd sing and also entering the crowd.
Her show consisted of 16 songs, and the crowd's focus was completely on her, at least until Halsey asked the crowd to applause for her band members who were positioned at the back of the stage infront of a screen that was showing differen pictures.
The only thing I found a bit unnecessary were Halsey's attampts to be sexy, touching her body sensually a few times but I'm guessing those moves were just supposed to accompany the lyrics of her songs.




The age of Halsey's audience was very young compared to X Ambassadors'. While the average age at her concert was about 17, most people at the X Ambassadors' show were 25 or older.  I also think that Halsey's music is mostly enjoyed by teenagers while the music of X Ambassadors is liked by a variety of age groups.
The style of their music is also very different. While X Ambassadors instrumental music is based on classical instruments (guitar, drums and piano) which harmoniously accompany the vocals, the instrumental music accompanying Halsey's voice is based on a synthesiser, while the drums and especially the guitar are less important for the special sound of her music. Added to that, Halsey's voice is dominating the music and the music is rather like a background sound to emphasize her very special voice.
Hence I don't understand Spotify's connection of Halsey as a similar artist to X Ambassadors because in my eyes they are completely different and thus almost incomparable.
Nevertheless, both artists are great and perform live very good, so you should definitely go and see either of them if you get the chance to.

Bands in Concert: El Vy

Sunday night (December, 12th), El Vy played at the Astra Kulturhaus in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

The room fits about 2000 people and as far as I know, the concert was sold out.

About half of the people were there to watch the preact 'The Penny Surfs'. The songs they played were quite different to one another, starting off with a slower song then going over to rocky songs and finally to soft psychedelic songs. Therefore they reminded me of different bands such as Placebo and Tame Impala   

Even though some of the music was very different to the actual act, the crowd seem to enjoy their performance.

The actual concert of El Vy was with about 50 minutes a bit shorter than most concert, but I wasn't really surprised since they only have one album yet. Their performance was very powerful and atmospheric which the light show increased even further. 

It seemed as if the band had been playing together for several years when in fact it was one of their first shows.

When they covered "She drives me crazy" the crowd really did go crazy. Especially Matt Berniger's performance made the cover at least ten times better than the original song; he put so many emotions in the song while rocking the stage. 

Very impressive were also Brent Knopf's skills, who was playing the guitar and the keyboard, both very well. During some songs he had to switch between the instruments which he was doing with an ease that really was incredible.

Overall, I can say that the concert was really enjoyable and musically on point. It was definitely a concert I won't forget so fast. 

Bands in Concert: The Neighbourhood

On Monday, November 16th, the Neighbourhood played at Postbahnhof, a venue that fits about 1000 people.

The preact 'Tunji Ige', an American rapper, started on time and fit to the music of The Neighbourhood hence the crowd was enjoying his performance very much. He was accompanied by a DJ, whose music helped entertaining the crowd even further.

After 40 Minutes of waiting, The Neighbourhood finally came on stage. Their entrance was musically underlined by the Intro of their song Ferrari, a song of their new album 'Wiped out', which was released October, 30th. It was a really good intro to the concert and made the crowd heat up even more.

Their concert was overall a good mixture of some old songs and songs from their new album. They played 14 songs of which 6 were taken from their new album.

Through out the whole concert, the band created a very special atmosphere and the lead singer Jesse made a very own version out of all of the songs. Due to that, the band rhythmically stuffed up once, but they didn't make a big deal out of it, they just confidentially interrupted the song and started anew. 

The band was also doing a great and very entertaining performance with a nice light show which I really enjoyed. Nevertheless, they still managed to focus on the emotions of each and every song and so it was a great balance of emotions and entertainment.

The only thing I found surprising was  that they didn't comment on the attacks in Paris even though the concert was only 4 days after. But maybe they just wanted the crowd to forget about it for a while and therefore didn't say anything. 

All in all, I can say that the concert was really enjoyable and unique. Due to Jesses very personal performance it was even better than I expected.

If you want to see 'The Neighbourhood' as well, go check out their website for tour dates. They will be touring some German cities next year in March, and the pre sale has already started.