As the clock hit 10:15 the crowd began a chant, “Backseat! Backseat! Backseat!” The curtain lifted as four guys with gorgeous heads of hair walked on and began tuning their instruments. The crowd cheered and I recognized them as The Backseat Lovers, they weren’t making a grand entrance or paying really any attention to the crowd yet but just focusing on getting in the zone it seemed. The stage looked like a church with stained glass windows framing the background and set the theme for the near religious experience we were about to have. Then, they began to play. They had yet to address the crowd yet but jumped straight into an instrumental course, the lead singer held my attention as he played his guitar with such passion that he shook and wiggled around. Their sound was incredible right off the bat.
You could tell that they were in love with music and the crowd immediately grabbed on to their energy.
When their first song was done they finally addressed the crowd with a simple introduction. I couldn’t believe how much different the guy standing at the mic shyly saying thank you was to himself 30 seconds ago absolutely slamming on his guitar. That was how the rest of the night went. The Backseat Lovers would put every ounce of their body, energy, and soul into a song as smoke and lights rose behind the cathedral-like set making them look like rock gods.
They seemed so confident, loud, and big as they hung over their instruments and whipped their hair up. Then the song would finish, the smoke would fade, and the lead singer would come back up to the mic with a small voice, give a sweet smile, and thank the crowd. They thanked the crowd a lot, saying they were the most respectful crowd they’ve seen in a while and “thank you thank you for being so respectful and nice!”. But it was impossible not to be a good crowd to these boys who became possessed when they played and then turned into awkward sweethearts when it was finished.
As the night came close to a finish The Backseat Lovers gave their final song. They then thanked the crowd and exited the stage. They weren’t big talkers or ones to give speeches at the end of the show or stories in between songs of how they came to be or such. I think the most conversation throughout the night was when a fan yelled “I like your mustache!” to the lead singer in which he gave a laugh and a thank you then another yelled “I named my mustache after you!” to which the singer fumbled around a bit with his words before saying “I’m flattered!”.
They came, they played (they rocked), and they left.
But before they could get to that last part of leaving the crowd, of course, began chanting for “one more song!”. The gentlemen came back and did an encore to close out the night. It was a beautiful experience, even only knowing a handful of their songs when I came I left a way bigger fan. You could just feel their passion and their music’s energy in the crowd and that was a beautiful thing to witness.
