A Hometown Odyssey Visits Philadelphia
In a world of post-One Direction pop, male pop artists' solo careers are in. These two solo acts showed the possibilities at their Philadelphia show at the recently remodeled club, The Foundry.
Kauffman The Foundry ‘24
Connor Kauffman opened the night with grit through his belting. He got personal with us when revealing his experiences being a donor child with a song intended for his father, the title track of his most recent EP called Two Hearts. For many of his songs, he used a complimentary track and live guitar. Throughout his set, he reminded the audience of his full name and kept following up with, “I’m supposed to say my name one more time” This got a small laugh from the crowd and had me thinking about the rules of success. He had a strong stage presence and consistent crowd engagement, especially when performing his cover of The Killer's “Mr. Brightside.” He continued to show us how to use music to cope with a relatable original song about anxiety called “Skin of a Saint.” He closed out his set with “Bleed” and reminded us of his name one last time.
After Kauffman’s set, I noticed the 18-24 demographic and many families with children in the crowd. Conor Kauffman is in his early 20s and Livingston is 21, making me feel old but still comfortable in the crowd. The show was overall family-friendly.
Livingston’s set started with a spoken intro voiced by J.K. Simmons to get us into his universe of A Hometown Odyssey. Accompanying him onstage was a track and drummer. Livingston got more intimate by performing “Fairytale” on keys. He then brought the vibes back up by showcasing his skills on the trackpad. Later in his set, He gave us insight into why he titled his most recent project “A Hometown Odessy.” Livingston explained the idea came to him in the Dallas airport and was inspired by his experiences being from a small town in Texas, an idea he worked on for 2-3 years. Throughout the night he checked in with the audience and brought us on an energetic and emotional journey. He ended the night with the second track of A Hometown Odyssey titled “Shadow.” He also concluded the night by expressing his gratitude and acknowledging that this dream “wasn’t supposed to happen,” referring to being able to pursue a career as a musician and his works gaining popularity.
The crowd was passionate and knew most of the lyrics throughout his set. They went especially hard on “Last Man Standing”. He claimed that Philadelphia was the ‘best crowd so far’ as the 7th stop on the tour.
Truthfully, I was going in blind but was pleasantly surprised by the emotion that the support act, Kauffman, and Livingston brought to the table. They are ones to watch.
Special Thanks to °1824 for the invite!
