The Walking In Between Tour: Ben Rector & Tyrone Wells
If you follow me on instagram or twitter, you may remember how excited I got about Ben Rector’s new album The Walking In Between when it was released earlier this fall. It was one of those albums where I loved every single song on the album, and each time I listened to it, I would find some new detail in a song that made it that much better. When tour dates were announced and a Philadelphia date was on the list, I started counting the days until the show. It was timed perfectly to celebrate the halfway point of the term where I could spend a few hours of my life forgetting about classes, midterms, and everything else stressing me out.
With fall weather in full force, I headed from Drexel’s Comedy Show to the TLA just in time to catch the beginning of Tyrone Wells’s set. I knew before even walking into the venue that it would be a night of fantastic vocals and special moments, and I was beyond right in that assumption. Within the roughly 40 minutes he was on stage, Tyrone captured the audience and held their attention with his pitch perfect voice and combination of originals and covers. From sampling OneRepublic’s “Apologize” during “Sink or Swim” to a Top 40 medley that included Lorde’s “Royals,” Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors,” and Imagine Dragons’s “Radioactive,” there wasn’t a single moment in his set that left you bored or questioning why he was on stage. What is and will always be one of my favorite elements of a concert is when an artist is able to completely unplug and stand away from a mic to sing and the audience responds perfectly. After the band left the stage for “When All Is Said and Done,” Tyrone played the first half of the song on guitar alone on stage, but for the last 30 seconds or so of the song, he unplugged the guitar, stepped away from the mic, and belted out the last part of the song with so much emotion that half the room started to tear up simply because it was so moving.
While the stage was cleared for Ben and I noticed all the lights that were set up, I knew not only would the show sound phenomenal, but it would also be visually interesting. As the beat of “Ordinary Love” filled the venue, Ben and his band took to the stage with smiles the size of Nashville. After starting out with three upbeat and high energy songs, Ben slowed things down just a little with “Thank God for the Summertime” and “I Like You.” The band cleared the stage for “Forever Like That” which Ben played with just the piano, but everyone was back for my personal favorite, “When I’m With You.” With lights that matched the music perfectly, it was clear the amount of thought and
love put into every element of the show. Before playing “The Beat,” Ben taught a short dance lesson to the men around the venue, giving them the option of the “shoulder shrug” or “running in place” for the dancing sections of the upcoming song. The rest of the hour and fifteen minute set flowed just as smoothly through the rest of the show, and the night ended with a crowd favorite cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
It was a fantastic night of music and both artists are worth seeing. More photos are below!
