Tyler Hilton at Stage One

Tyler Hilton came back to Fairfield as a solo act for the first time in a few years and I was very excited to see him. I did the VIP ticket so I got to hang with him a bit before the show – there were about a dozen of us just hanging out, talking about past shows, making random song requests. (Several of which made it into the set that evening – although I pulled the most obscure song I could think of out as a request moreso to see if he even remembered its existence than for him to actually play it – and he did remember it but wondered how I knew about it!) He practiced a Christmas song he had written for a Lifetime movie that has a bunch of the One Tree Hill cast members in it. He fumbled through it a bit on the piano but said he’d try it out during the show again and hopefully do better (and he did, and he did!) He was happy that the venue had a piano for him to use so he did more songs on that than he usually does, but said he’s not much of a piano player so he kept apologizing that he might mess things up. He did way better than I ever could, so no complaints here! It was great to see him again at Stage One – he mentioned it was one of his favorite venues to play and he always looks forward to coming so hopefully that means that he will come around again soon! We also tried to convince him to book a Christmas gig at Daryls House so maybe that will end up happening as well.

Tyler Hilton & Kate Voegele

Last year Tyler and Kate’s tour was in December at the Wolf’s Den.  This year it was at one of my favorite little venues, The Fairfield Theater.  I had seen Tyler there before but Kate had never played there before but really liked the “vibe”.  Throughout the show Kate kept using the word and mentioned how it was driving her husband crazy but she just couldn’t come up with a better word when she wanted to use it.  The setlist for this show was short, but there was a lot of chatting/bantering/joking going around between songs.  The two had just gotten back from a tour in Australia and were talking about how the Australians say everything so differently and some of the slang words that they had picked up while they were there.  For this set they alternate between Tyler songs and Kate songs and then throw in a few fun duets as well. They ended their set with their take on “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and I am pretty sure it was a role reversal.  This show was a ton of fun and I hope they continue to come through Connecticut if they continue to tour together (or even separately) because they are always so much fun to see live!  It’s crazy to think that I first saw Tyler back in 2004! Wow!

 

Concert Review: One Tree Holiday

Thursday night Kate Voegele and Tyler Hilton brought their final show of the 2016 leg of the “One Tree Holiday” tour to the Wolf’s Den at Mohegan Sun.  Fun fact – the first time I had seen either of these artists was when they opened for Hanson (4 or so years apart).  Rather than have one perform first and the other perform second, both Kate and Tyler were on stage for the entire set, playing and singing on each others songs which was pretty cool!  They alternated between Kate’s songs and Tyler’s songs and had a few covers thrown in for good measure as well.  One of the covers was one that Tyler did of Elvis’ “That’s Alright Mama” which he had done in the movie Walk the Line.  He also talked about how he had used to play in our area a lot, but not so much anymore.  Hopefully that changes! Back in college I used to see him all the time and now it is fewer and farther between (if you’re not counting seeing him on my TV since he’s currently on the show Pitch and before that was on Extant – which I only started watching because he told us to and said it was about robots!)  After the show I opted to pay $40 for a Polaroid with both Tyler and Kate. I suppose if I knew how much it had cost before I got to the merch table after waiting for about a half an hour I wouldn’t have bothered to stay, but at that point I figured what the heck.  Kate told me we had the “best name ever!” and I told Tyler how I went to a lot of shows back like 10 or so years ago and didn’t see any girls I had recognized from back then and I felt like I was getting older but his fans were getting younger and he said “ME TOO!” and how he and Kate sometimes talked about that.  Then I mentioned how I had first seen them both open for Hanson and Kate said that was like a rite of passage for the singer songwriter to open for Hanson and how they were such cool guys! They had mentioned wanting to come through this way again and I really hope that they do!

Tyler Hilton StageOne Fairfield

Sunday night Tyler Hilton returned to Stage One in Fairfield CT.  He brought with him Russell Howard as the opening act.  Russell kicked off the show at 7:45 and played for roughly half an hour.  He did that cool thing where he played his guitar and then recorded it to loop back so that he could play along with it and make it sound fuller than with just one guy on stage. Always fun to see.  He also mentioned that he went to the beach and ate a sandwich in Fairfield since he lives in land and it was a nice day here.

At 8:35 Tyler hit the stage, I was thankful for an early set because I was exhausted! Tyler did a 12 song set and 2 song encore.  Before he started One Foot in the Bayou he was saying how he was surprised people cheered that they liked the songs and often times it is “one for you one for me” with songs.  He also tried to play the harmonica and then got mad yelled “Fuck it! No harmonica on this song!” and threw it down.  Later he had given it another chance and it seemed to come through for him.  He threatened to leave his harmonica if it didn’t cooperate and then teased how he was blaming the harmonica but he probably should have been blaming himself.  He also threatened to leave his guitar after it made a big POP noise when he plugged it in.

Before Leave Him he talked about how as far as guys go he is probably what would be a “Nice Guy” as opposed to a “Dick Head” when all the girls he was attracted to wanted a “Dick Head”, he said One Tree Hill kind of let him live out that other personality.  The song Leave Him came from when he was hanging out with a guy and a girl that were dating – he was friends with the guy and liked hanging out with him – but knew that he was a shitty boyfriend and just kept kind of hoping that they would break up and then he could date the girl instead – but it didn’t work out that way.

He also talked a lot about what a great vibe the crowd had and how he kind of forgot we were there and felt like it was just a party.  He said he’s not working hard at all and loves what he does and would be doing it even if he had to live in a shitty apartment – but he is lucky enough that he doesn’t have to.  He also talked a bit about his other hobby, acting, and that he is going to be in a new TV show on CBS this summer with Halle Berry (I believe it is called Extant) where he gets to build and play with robots.  He said he doesn’t get religious often but that the song Hey Jesus kind of reminds him of how lucky he is that he gets to do what he does.

Since mentioning “One Tree Hill” always got him such a huge cheer from the crowd, he ended the encore with “When the Stars Go Blue”.

Tyler is currently trying to raise money to record his new album – check out all the details at Pledge Music http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/tylerhilton

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Tyler Hilton at The Space

Monday night, Tyler Hilton played The Space in Hamden, CT.  He is promoting his new CD, Forget the Storm, which comes out on April 3rd.  Support for the show was Dakota & Will and Dion Roy. (As well as Sam Allesandrine but I came in during the last song of her set.)

I was a bit disappointed to see that Tyler did not have the CD available early to those of us who came out to the show, especially when it came out the next day, but with the big NYC CD bash being the next night, I kind of expected it. (I just ordered it from his website now – I hope it still comes signed even though it is now release day and not a pre-order!)

Anyway, back to the show!  Dakota & Will (http://www.dakotaandwill.com/) are 2 guys from Nashville. At first I didn’t really like them, but I have to say as their set went on they started to grow on me. They describe themselves as ‘country pop that doesn’t suck’ and I think that description is pretty accurate.  Will even went in the crowd during a song (while Dakota was singing) and gave a CD out to one of the girls in the crowd which I thought was pretty cool.

Next up was Dion Roy (http://www.dionroy.com) .  I saw Dion Roy with Tyler once before, and I don’t think I was actually all that sold on him.   However, I certainly was sold on him this show! His voice was great! (That’s all I can really go by because I was sitting in the back and couldn’t see the stage for most of the openers sets) He has a new CD coming out in June.  I probably should have bought one of his older ones at the show but I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. (There’s always iTunes!)

Then Tyler came through the crowd and up on stage.  He apologized for being out of breath and said that he had been dancing around to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” and that Dakota and Will had turned him on to the song last night. (Random Fact: Both Tyler and Carly have opened for Hanson!)  He also had his glasses on which he had not intended on wearing but forgot with all the rocking out to Canadian Pop Stars…  I stood up for a few of his songs so that I was able to take some photos. I was pleasantly surprised that they turned out so well because usually the lighting at The Space is not that great, but I guess I found a nice spot to shoot from. Even sitting I could still see him, thank goodness he is soo tall! 🙂

He talked about how the new album was coming out the next night and that tonight was the last night that would be like this of the past before the album came out.  He said he’d do some new and old stuff and that he did.  Pink and Black was shouted out from the crowd and The Letter Song he wasn’t sure he would remember the words and actually told some girls to keep singing it because he was reading their lips to remember the words!

Based off the few new songs he did, I am very much so looking forward to getting the new album to hear it all for myself.  It’s been quite some time since he last released a cd! He said he liked the idea of releasing CDs every 5 years because it showed a different side of him – but his first CD had songs he wrote literally while he was in high school and now he is 28 – so it’s actually been 10 years and that he wouldn’t do again.

For the last song – his latest single – Prince of Nothing Charming – he stood in the middle of the crowd and sang loud without his mic.  It was really neat (aside from the fact that the kid next to me was talking THE. WHOLE. SHOW. and didn’t bother to shut up at this point either – even though Tyler politely asked for everyone to try and be quiet since he had no mic)

I opted to head home instead of hanging around to meet Tyler – it seemed like everyone wanted to hang out and he said they had to leave sooner than they thought so I figured that was a good time to make my escape. But it was certainly the best $10 ticket I’ve bought in a long time! (I only wish it was at a seated venue.)

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Concert #200 – October 30, 2010 – Tyler Hilton&Josiah Leming

Show #200 started off with a scream from Clay Garner that was so loud (and unexpected) it made Jessa jump!  He was young – 16 – and said Tyler and Josiah were his Idols, which I thought was kind of funny.  Also funny was when he encouraged us to stay for Tyler and Josiah.  That was the plan!  At the end of his 5 song set a dude yelled “You’re CUTE!” Which was definitely a highlight.  His set was good but he lost me on his last song – a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin'”

After a short break it was time for Dion Roy.  His guitar had a crazy glare going on from the lights which blinded Jessa and I at times.  He mentioned his songs have been featured on Road Rules, Bad Girls Club and The Kardashians, none of which I ever watch – but good for him!  His set was 6 songs and started out a little rough, but he quickly found his groove.  He also commented that he was from NY and was looking forward to sleeping his his own bed that night – adding that it wasn’t that Josiah and Tyler weren’t great, which led to his backup guitarist Pete (?) asking if he had been sharing a bed with them.  I thought it was funny.  Maybe you had to be there.  The kid next to me had ants in his pants which felt the need to pick up during this set and I felt it worth noting.  At times I felt like I was on a boat and it was incredibly distracting…

Another break and it was time for Josiah.  Josiah was a contestant on Idol season 7 (Cook’s year) and I could not stand him.  He got cut and appeared on Ellen and I probably vowed to never see him live – but I was there for Tyler and suffering through him was a price I was going to have to pay.  Admittedly, he was not as bad as I had thought – but he did have his screeching moments (and I thought Adam Lambert was bad…).  After 2 songs he asked if we were attached to our chairs and wanted everyone to stand up for him.  I politely declined.  For the song “Silly Fly” he was bouncing all over the stage and I am really not sure how he had so much energy and how he was able to keep it up for his entire set, but he did!

He told us the song “Lover” was written about a girl he met at a strip club and fell for and then he realized she was mean and it was her job to make him fall for him.  The next song “You, I Love” was written about a girlfriend who was plain.  He loved that bout her and she hated it.  His set was 10 songs.  He was backed by josh on bass, Steve on guitar and Tom on drums.  After his set the girls all went to meet him and came back giggling like school girls. Maybe he is charming? I don’t know, I didn’t bother to leave my seat.

They broke down Josiah’s keyboard and we waited for Tyler.  He came out alone and sang “When It Comes”, I was glad he started with something older I knew because I’ve been slacking in the Tyler fan department as of late! (But I will be correcting that very soon!)  The band (same as Josiah’s) joined him for Sunset Blvd and This World Will Turn Your Way and a cover of Missing You.  I don’t think I’d ever seen him with a full band before (although it’s been years so I really can’t remember) but Tyler can rock!

The band left again and Tyler started talking about the next song he’d sing and the girls behind me screamed out “ROLLIN HOME!” And he jokingly yelled at them for giving it away.  Next he was joined by a French fan now living locally for When The Stars Go Blue.  Judging by the screams this isn’t something he plays very often.  He did 4 more songs – one of which he wrote with Lady Antebellum.  I can’t remember which it was now, but I really liked it! Then he left but the house lights didn’t go on and a chant of “Tyler, Tyler” began.  He came back out and said he was heading to merch and asked what we wanted to hear – tons of songs were screamed out and he went with Stay.

The merch area was a nightmare so we decided to skip hanging around for pics and just headed out (similar story to concert #100 – minus having a train to catch).  Tyler has grown tons musically since I last same him – definitely catch him if you get the chance!

Photos to come soon..

Josiah Leming&Tyler Hilton setlists

I need to get at least a couple of hours of sleep tonight, so a review is going to have to wait until I get home from Oklahoma. (Though I will most likely write it up on the plane tomorrow – if I’m not asleep)  I did want to try and get setlists posted though. Josiah’s setlist should be about right – he said almost all the names of the songs, but I did zone out near the end and the notes I took are not producing anything in google (“Mistaken I don’t know” is what I wrote lol)  so I am not sure of that.  During Tyler’s set I realized that I am completely lacking in keeping up with his new-er stuff – but his set was great so I need to get on that once I get home!

I didn’t keep track of Clay Garner or Dion Roy’s sets.  They each did about 5 or 6 songs.  Hopefully the notes I took on all the sets will make sense come another day when I try to read them…

Josiah’s Setlist:
Maybe
One Last Song
Day and Night
Silly Fly
Her
Lover
You, I Love
Song Without A Reason
?
Come On Kid

Tyler’s Setlist:
When It Comes (Solo)
Sunset Blvd
This World Will Turn Your Way
Missing You (Cover)
Rollin’ Home (Solo)
When The Stars Go Blue (no band, with French fan, Claire?)
You’ll Ask For Me
Ain’t A Thing
I Believe In You

Stay

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