The Empyrean Coffee House – Saturday, August 8th
After working all day at Riverfront Park for Kid's Day Matt and I slowly made our way down to the Empyrean Coffee House for the first night of the 4th Annual Acoustic Explosion. I will admit this is my first time at the Acoustic Explosion and I will also admit that I will be back next year. Kelly from ERC Booking did a fantastic job. Walking through the door our attention was grabbed by Logan Heftel who was playing the Front Stage. With a big smile on his face, a harmonica around his neck, and an acoustic guitar he refreshed the audience with sweet acoustic folk tunes. We were treated to songs like "Love's An Endless War" and "Don't Give Up On Me." The room lit up with his personality and music as he stood behind a wall of white christmas lights and a red floral tapestry. It was a great way to get the night going. Logan Heftel is a talented musician from L.A. and I am glad he could make it all the way up to Spokane to put on a charming set for us. Hopefully he can do it again in the future.
We managed to catch a bit of Dan Conrad who was a trio tonight with Amanda helping on vocals and Jeremy on keyboard. Dan Conrad is a singer songwriter from Spokane with pop vocals and an acoustic guitar. He plays a lot at Zola and he mentioned that he doesn't play original songs when he is trying to entertain drunk people, so we were in for a treat. It takes courage to play original songs and I respect that from any artist. One of his original songs that stuck out to me and that he played for us was called "Loosing it All." Dan has a gentle voice that mixes smoothly with Amanda, together it was a sugary soft melody. Cool thing is that you can catch Dan at Zola every Tuesday and that he has an album due out early next year! Spokane has a lot of talent, that is always playing – check it out!
Matthew Winters as usual was great and funny. He was very personal tonight going into a little bit more detail about the stories in his songs. Learned a little bit about "Bone Crusher." He is such an honest kid. It was a treat to get 45 minutes of Matthew because we got to hear two songs we have never heard before and I got to hear my current favorite by him which I guess is called "Cute and Stabby." I sang it all the way home to Matt. He also killed a Beck song who he thinks is the best musician of our generation but he doesn't like much of his music. Matthew nailed it on the head saying the show was like a library, its very quite and people whisper. I don't know about the audience but I was laughing at loud and singing along. Matthew also played a song that I don't remember the name of but he said he named it when long names were cool. So I do have that on my side, can't write that fast. I never thought I would be at a show watching a local artist and be able to sing along to almost every song. I think it is so cool that local artists like Matthew Winters have made that impression on me. He is just a talented song writer that can make me smile and make my eyes water up in one night while playing the guitar. If you haven't seen him – do so. Perfect way to end the first night of the Acoustic Explosion.
Andrea@checkitoutmusic.com
Check out day 2!
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