3/7/2024 - SOFAR - SAN DIEGO, CA
photo by natalie minguez
The tour started off in San Diego with an acoustic show hosted by SOFAR (Sounds From A Room). I grew up watching videos of some of my all time favorite artists (Charlie Burg, DAISY, and Kevin Garrett) playing SOFAR shows so it was a really cool experience to get to do one myself. The show was at a hotel so I was in full Suite Life of Zack & Cody mode. The show was in the courtyard of the hotel and most times in California, it’s safe to play outside but this was one of those drizzly days where you’re not sure if it’s suddenly going to downpour. After some deliberation, we decided to play outside instead of inside the hotel because it worked best for all the acts (more on that later).
The first act was a couple of new friends by the name of Stucky Leigh. Will and Lauren put on a really cool set with some really easy listening and catchy melodies. Totally the type of music that was up my alley and I’m glad we got to do the artist thing and exchange some merch afterwards. Without further ado, it was my turn to play. Mind you, I rarely play acoustic sets. I really love where I’m at with the full band set so it’s hard to remove those elements and go for a stripped set but it was a cool opportunity to start working that muscle.
I opened the set with “Two Kids In A Trench Coat” which is starting to feel like a real Comfort Club Classic and I genuinely love how it feels to play that song live. There’s something about greeting a new audience with a Little Rascals reference that just seems to ease the tension of a live show. Naturally, I transitioned into “Old Friends” (Pinegrove) as the second song of the set. That song feels so much like a Comfort Club song at this point; I really love adding it into the set—a little moment for the fan in me each show.
Next up I went for a unique version of “New Ways To Miss You.” Being that I was trying to make the set a bit more engaging for myself, I decided to go with an open tuning version of this song. Now I’ve grown so accustomed to playing this song one way for the last 5 years so to switch it up definitely gave me butterflies but I really liked how it sounded and felt! The tuning I used is the tuning for the new tune “What If You Don’t” so I was able to seamlessly flow into that song and it felt amazing to play that one fully acoustically.
The set wound down with an intimate version of “Try” and then an absolutely electric (acoustic) version of “(love) a reason to hate you.” The crowd really seemed to be locked into the lyricism and being that I pour so much of my energy into lyrics, it felt really rewarding to be listened to so intently. There’s some real merit to playing acoustic and putting it all on the line. It’s definitely something I can see myself doing more of in the future.
The night ended with an enthusiastic performance by The 524—a 10-piece brass band from San Diego. Now mind you I’m an empath so the fact that a 10-piece brass band was playing in a hotel courtyard at 10pm on a weekday made me incredibly anxious but I hope it’s a huge testament to say that the fact they finished their set without noise complaints just goes to show how tasteful they were despite being a very high energy and high volume band. They were the perfect nightcap to a great opening show of the tour. I also got to enjoy a free shirley temple during their set so my night was a 10/10.
Thanks for checking out the first tour diary entry. I hope to keep doing these and maybe even expand it in some way to involve readers and local lore some more!