Andy Grammer channels Justin Bieber and others

By Ryan, October 7, 2015

By Natalie Wojtanowski, Staff Writer//

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day… or just stay away forever. The Class of 2018 is three for three when it comes to HPU concerts being moved indoors. However, the rain and Millis Gym didn’t stop students from crowding together to watch Andy Grammer sing his heart out. He started with a hit everyone recognized, “Keep Your Head Up,” and then surprisingly most of the rest of the show were covers including a throwback, “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, and “What Do U Mean” by Justin Bieber. I’ve been an Andy Grammer fan from the start so I was a little bummed that most of his set list included covers rather than his own music. I actually ended up leaving shortly after he played “Honey I’m Good” because I wasn’t recognizing any of the songs. I’m sure Andy G was trying to make it a good time, but most of the songs were pretty slow. I feel like people are looking to get pumped up when they go to a concert, especially since this concert is supposed to kick off the year.
In previous years we’ve had artists such as J. Cole and Calvin Harris, which sounded like a lot more fun than this concert’s experience. This is not to say that Andy Grammer didn’t sing well – he has a lovely voice and he actually beat boxed for most of the concert, which was really interesting. He sang “What Do U Mean” by recording his voice making different noises and then layering them on top of each other to make the background. He also used a synthesizer to make his voice sound high like Justin Bieber’s. I actually really enjoyed him adding “What Do U Mean” to his set list because everyone and their mom knows that song, so it was fun to have the whole crowd come together and sing along to a song.
One of the more exciting parts of the concert was that he brought out his Dancing With The Stars partner Peta Murgatroyd. For those who don’t know, in addition to performing at HPU, Grammer is also competing in the television-based dance show for the title of grand champion. I’m not personally a Dancing With The Stars fan, but the crowd went wild when she came out on stage. I was hoping that after introducing her to the crowd, they might do a dance for everyone, but as everyone seems to do these days, they ended up just taking a selfie and she retreated backstage. Even though it was pretty cool. I’m confident that the crowd would have went just as wild if Dr. Qubein (HPU presidnet) had been up there.
All in all, I would give the concert a grade in the B-/C+ range. Grammer seemed to be really into his music, but he didn’t talk to the crowd much or sing many of his own popular songs. He may have even been singing his own songs, but not ones that anyone recognized. Maybe next time Andy.