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An Emotional Night for Bea Miller at Amsterdam

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It’s every musicians’ dream to headline a major tour, whether they have a following of 10,000 people or 10, they want to feel that rush of walking on stage to a sold-out crowd of people who admire them, look up to them and use their music an escape. On Tuesday, April 23rd, that’s the exact feeling I imagine Bea Miller experienced as she walked out onto the stage of the Amsterdam in St. Paul.  

Since 2012, Bea has been taking the world by storm when she came in 9th place during the second season of The X Factor, at the age of 13.  She was clearly destined to take the world by storm as I haven’t meant many 13-year-olds who have acclaimed that level of success at such a young age. At the age of 15 she released her first EP Young Blood, which peaked at No. 2 on iTunes giving her the opportunity to open for Demi Lovato on her Demi World Tour.  

These days the New Jersey based singer and song writer has been killing it with the release of her second studio album Aurora in 2018, as well as her latest hit single, its not you its me.  The Ep covers a variety of topics from existential boredom to slut shaming. The album features one of her hit singles “S.L.U.T.” (Sweet, Little, Unforgettable Thing). After telling Teen Vogue about a fan who called her the derogatory word, she switched things around stating. “Let’s turn something that’s negative into something positive and reclaim the word so when women are called a slut for absolutely no reason, it doesn’t make them feel bad about themselves.” 

I was extremely excited for this show, the second I saw her announcement on Facebook, I knew I had to sign up ASAP to cover it for Twin Cities Media. When I arrived to Amsterdam, I immediately felt like one of the older people in the crowd, and I’m only 24. I have no problem with this, it’s actually very encouraging to see younger people out at shows, especially on a Tuesday night! As I worked my way through the crowd, trying to get as close as I could, I passed by several groups of girls who were eagerly chatting about how excited they were to finally see Bea live. Finally, I found a spot about 15 feet from the stage, where I was squished shoulder to shoulder with some of Bea’s loyal fans. 

Right before Bea took the stage, the crowd began to grow anxious as a backing track started to play her voice chanting “Where is the album? We need the damn album!” over and over again until her drummer finally came in with a rocking beat that gave Bea the intro she needed to take the stage for the very first time as a headliner.  

Once she took the stage, the crowd screamed as loud as they could while filming her entrance for their Instagram/snap stories, almost everyone around me held their phone as high as they could. She proceeded to dance around stage with a smile that warmed your hear, her bubbly and happy-go-lucky personality and excitement to be back on stage shined during this first song. She began to cry as the crowd gazed up at her lovingly, not of sadness, but of pure joy and happiness. Everyone in the crowd had a mutual understanding of what was going on and how important this moment was to Bea.  

This wasn’t the only time she got emotional during her set. After a few more of her pop hits, Bea went into what she described as her “emo part of her set.” She began by telling us a story of how she normally writes her songs for the fans, but this next one she wrote just for herself to help boost herself up whenever she’s feeling down. After a brief intro she begins to sing and to my surprise almost the entire crowd joined in with her, singing along word for word. Bea seemed just as shocked as I was, this clearly struck a nerve as she had to take a second to appreciate the moment and take a mental photograph.   

To close out this moody segment of her set and get the crowd back in party mode, Bea launched into a cover of the Jonas Brother’s songs, Burnin’ Up, one of Bea’s personal favorites. Jamming out to the song, whipping her long hot pink hair back and forth, Bea brought life back into the Amsterdam. The fans loved it as they jumped around singing what they could remember of the 2008 hit.  

The end of Bea’s show unfortunately started to come to an end when she announced she only had two songs left. She received a synchronized “No” from everyone in the crowd, no one was ready for Bea to leave. Hoping to keep her on stage for as long as possible they put all of their energy into the next two songs, in an attempt to show Bea that they’re worth an encore set!  

The first of her last two songs was one of my favorite, Fire and Gold. The guitarist launched into the song with a clean sounding riff that allowed Bea and everyone in the venue (including myself) to started to sing along “Like an astronaut that’s scared of heights.” Once the chorus hit, the crowd launched into full part mode, jumping along with Bea as the drums thundered and Bea’s iconic voice pleasantly filled the ears of everyone.  

To end her set, she played her latest sing, its not you its me, an absolute banger that is supposed to be accompanied by rapper 6LACK.  With a groovy hip-hop beat to showcase Bea’s incredible vocal range, the crowd bounced up and down rapping over the vocal track of 6LACK hoping that they’d somehow stand out to Bea and she’d bring them up on stage to finish of the song with her.  

As the song died off, the crowd started to roar and chant as loud as they could “Encore! Encore! Encore!” To no surprise, Bea instantaneously popped back on stage to give the crowed one last major banger on the condition that they take a group photo and rock out as hard as they could during the final moments of her first headlining show, they did both flawlessly.  

Bea Miller at Amsterdam | 4.23.2019

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Credit: Sean Donohue | Echo Images

Looking back on Tuesday night, I keep thinking about the energy Bea brought to the stage and how connected she is to her music and fans. However, the one thing that stood out to me is her voice… holy shit this girl has pipes! She’s so talented and her vocal range is absolutely outstanding! I know that this girl has nowhere to go but up, and I expect to see her playing venues similar to First Ave around the country in the next few years. If you’re reading this and you haven’t heard of Bea Miller before, I highly suggest you go add anyone of her songs to your current playlist, I can guarantee you won’t regret it! 

Making Friends With The Mowgli’s And Jukebox The Ghost At The Varsity Theater

/in /by

It was a very anxious day for me as I counted down the minutes until I’d be walking through the doors of The Varsity Theater for my first time ever. This was not only going to be my first time attending a show at there, it was also going to be my first time covering a show for Twin Cities Media.  

When I finally did arrive at the venue, I could already hear the crowd gathered together, talking excitedly as individuals in the group would take guesses at what songs the headliners would play. As I looked through the crowd, searching for a familiar face to share my own excitement with, I saw that the crowd was comprised of a variety of people from various age groups; college students of the University of Minnesota, young professionals in the mid 20’s and even a few groups of what I like to call, my parents’ generation (I’ll let you decide what I mean by that). 

The show kicked off with a performance by Twin XL, a Los Angeles trio that is the creative brainchild of songwriters and producers, Cameron Walker-Wright (vocals) and brothers Stephen Gomez (bass) and John Gomez (guitar). There’s a certain synergy between the three that creates a perfect storm of glistening retro synths, catchy bass-lines, memorable melodies and Walker’s smooth vocal. Like myself, this was a big night of first for the group, it was the first show of their first major tour!  

Making Friends Tour at Varsity Theater | 3.18.2019

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This group was a great band to start off the show, their pop-techno rock and roll performance was the perfect vibe to loosen up the crowd for The Mowgli’s. They choose to end their set with an original Good an upbeat crowd pleaser that had the crowd feeling saucy afterwards. By ending on such a high note, these guys set the stage for the amazing line-up that was about to take stage.  

Next up was a band that I was extremely excited to see, The Mowgli’s. Last time I saw this group perform was at Saint John’s University for the school’s annual spring concert (Pines).  The Indie-Pop-Folk-Rock group is comprised of 6 artists; Colin Louis Dieden (vocals/guitar), Katie Jayne Earl (vocals/percussion), Matthew Di Panni (bass/vocals), Josh Hogan (guitar/vocals), Dave Appelbaum (keys/vocals) and Andy Warren (drums/percussion/vocals). They band is based out of California, but are amidst a major tour to promote their new EP, “American Feelings”, which was recently released on March 1st.  

As the lights dimmed and the crowd grew quiet, anticipating how the band would make an entrance, everyone in the venue was suddenly hit a bone rattling bass sequence. I was crouched down in the photo pit during this mind melting intro, right in front of the subwoofers… let’s just say I was asking people to talk a little louder the next day. As members of the band took the stage, the crowd screamed and hollered with hopes that the louder they were, the more likely they’d catch the eye of Colin or Katie and hopefully get a wave or a wink in return for their vocal patronage.  

The ever so present bass intro started to fade out as the band launched into their first song, Sun Comes Up. With a slew of visuals being projected behind them, all the band mates danced around the stage, while Colin stood at the edge gesturing to the crowd to throw their hands up and dance along to the music. 

Everything about how this band operates is flawless and they are incredible to watch live. What really impressed me the most during their set was just the raw intensity that they brought to the stage. I’m a firm believer that a band is only as good as they how perform live. Between the colorful array of colors that flashed across the venue during each song, the choice of visuals to accompany their meticulously crafted songs and how they were able to keep the entire crowd locked into their performance, proves that The Mowgli’s are a top tier group.  

Making Friends Tour at Varsity Theater | 3.18.2019

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After watching the Mowgli’s set I was hesitant that Jukebox the Ghost was going to be able put on a show that was as good as what I had just witnessed. The trio that makes up Jukebox the Ghost is composed of college friends: Ben Thornewill (piano/vocals), Tommy Siegel (guitar/bass/vocals) and Jesse Kristin (drums/vocals). This group has played over 1,000 shows across the country and around the world over the course of their 10-year career.  

Any doubts I had about their performance were immediately thrown out the window once Ben, Tommy and Jesse took the stage and the crowd excitement escalated significantly. They didn’t need an intro like the Mowgli’s, the fans in the venue provided a similar volume to warmly welcome the guest into town. A simple point from Ben to any member in the crowd would have the fans oozing with joy.  Once the group began their set, the upbeat tempo of their music got the crowd jumping up and down so much that at times I felt the floor shake a bit, and singing as loud as they could as if there was mothing more important in the world than that very moment.  

There’s one thing I’ve noticed about 3-piece groups, there’s always that one member that gets the most recognition, for Jukebox & The Ghost, that person is certainly Ben. Not only did he steal the show, I’m sure he stole some hearts as well. His piano rifts caused several jaws to drop, including my own. Now I should be clear, not all the credit should go to Ben, Tommy and Jesse bring a vibe to the stage that, enhanced the show for me.  

Tommy’s frequent guitar solos always received a reaction from the crowd, you could see a grin on his face appear every time he was about to go into another. He knew what the crowd was in store for, but they did, and he loved the fact that he was about to hit them with something amazing and unexpected. Then there’s Jesse and the purple unicorn he had set-up next to his drum set, I knew right away this guy was going to be a character behind the sticks. Not only did he provide a constant beat for the crowds to bounce their bodies to, all while putting on a show as he flung his arms around the set hitting exactly what he needed to as hard as he could, he also provided some comedic efforts to the show with his solo rendition of “Baby Shark”.  

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised after watching Jukebox The Ghost, they certainly know how to put on one hell of a show that has the ability to get the crowd carelessly dancing, keep fans on their toes with and an impromptu guitar and keytar solos, as well as give the fans a quick break from the music by providing some comedic relief, whether it’s a short rendition of baby shark or mentioning that, in Ben’s words “This next song sounds like if Jerry Lewis drank too much coffee… also, it’s about sex in public.”.  

Making Friends Tour at Varsity Theater | 3.18.2019

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I never did find a familiar face in the crowd, however I started to think about that. Isn’t this exactly what the members of The Mowgli’s and Jukebox the Ghost intended? It’s called the “Making Friends Tour” for a reason. I spoke with many other individuals who joined me in the feeling of bliss as I saw my first show at The Varsity theatre, exchanging laughs at the fact that out outfits happened to match (Black Converse, jean, grey hoodie and leather jacket), or told me stories of the first show they saw here. I may not have been around my friends, but I certainly felt like I walked away with a few.