One of the exclusive events at Back to the Island is that each band member does a solo show performance. Isaac has had the best set (in my opinion) the last 2 years running so I was interested to see if he would win again this year. At first, I thought he did, but now that I have had some time to sit back and take it all in, I am giving the title to Zac this year.
Zac was up first and seemed to have grown a lot over the past few years with his solo sets. The first year was a bit awkward but he seems to be able to hold it on his own now. He did need to google some lyrics – which made everyone laugh because he was on Isaac’s case so much last year about messing up! He also came on stage with his hair down but half way through his set decided it was too humid and he had to pull it back. I was impressed he lasted even a few songs, I wouldn’t have! A highlight was Zac playing Lucy – something he had never played before. He has sung it, but never actually *played* it.
Give Me Your Best Shot
Juliet
I Am
Broken Angel
Lucy
Bittersweet
On and On
No Sleep For Banditos
Get So Low
Up All Night
Taylor had the 2nd solo set and was probably my 2nd favorite. (Maybe even close to a tie with Zac?) While his set was not funny, or goofy or full of mess ups, he had a solid setlist. I liked that he played Take Our Chances – a song he said was 10 years old but still relevant. Having him do Look At You solo was really fun to hear as well. And Weird is one of my favorites so I loved that he included that in his set as well! He did start Voice In The Chorus and then decided to not play it and the setlist also had One More on the list and he opted to not play that either.
Every Word I Say
Kiss Me When You Come Home
Crazy Beautiful
Take Our Chances
Look At You
Dying To Be Alive
Weird
Ive Been Down
Sunny Day
Isaac was the last of the solo shows and he came with no setlist and was instead taking requests from the audience. I loved this approach, even though he did not play what I had yelled out. Maybe next year? Some say that this made him come off as unrehearsed – but I am not sure how he could have rehearsed every song, ever and still took requests so he would come off as polished. He also decided to play a song that he wrote when he was 14 that had never been recorded or played live before. (That was my ONE for the week!) I am pretty sure this is the song that the instrumental is played during TTMON. It was called “A Life Without You” and he said he wrote it about 2 weeks after More Than Anything for the same girl. Another highlight of his set was playing Smile and Sometimes again – since that was the mess up from the year before. He explained that we say one song and his brain thinks we said another and that it happened again when someone requested a song (Lonely Again) and his brain decided we wanted Leave the Light On. The worst part about Isaac’s set was that he was very, very late to start (I think by an hour) I thought this may have been due to the photos running over – but I hear they were done by 4pm and his set wasn’t scheduled to start until 5:30pm. Guess we can blame Ike for Hanson time.
Best of Times
Two Tears
A Life Without You
So Lovely
Leave the Light On
Next Train
Being Me
Grace Unknown
More Than Anything
Smile
Sometimes
River