3 days, 3 shows, 800 miles, and one great roadtrip. First was Dallas, where we saw Eric at the Palladium (in the same building as Gilleys). This was the most mellow show. We heard a new song called Revolving Door that was about Eric’s big family and everything that comes along with that. It was a more serious song and fit well with the crowd.
The second show was in Houston at the Meridian. Hutchead Danielle saved us seats and had a good time. The show was a little more lively and Eric pretty much sticked to his established songs. He played Sad Songs but not many people recognized it.
The third day got started with an on camera interview with Eric, more on that as I get it edited, but it went well. The show was at the Parish Room right in the heart of 6th street. Great sound, a great staff and a perfect venue. The crowd was a lot bigger and it made for the best show of the weekend. Eric, Tom, and Jimmy seemed like they had a good time as well. Eric even brought back Freak Control to keep the crowd dancing.
Justin Nozuka opened every show, and played 5 or 6 soulful songs. Eric and Marié Digby switch off, every other night one plays last. Marié sounds a lot like her LP, but with stories in between songs. She even sang backup for Justin on a song. Jimmy Coleman, Eric’s drummer, played on a song with Justin as well.
Overall the shows were solid Eric. He played at least 8 of the 10 songs on Sounds Like This each night, with My Girl/Ignition Remix as well. He did a Cher version of It Hasn’t Been Long Enough a few times. Justin Nozuka’s guitarist Mark Pellizzer played electric guitar on Outside Villanova, and Food Chain, bringing Eric’s band to a full quartet. Food Chain sounded especially good with the addition of an electric guitar. Check out the video of the day for how it sounds. Eric said he would love to have a quartet eventually. Tom Craskey slid from bass to keyboard a few times.
We met some cool people, and the shows had a better feel to them compared to when Eric was opening for One Republic and Blind Melon. The crowds where smaller, but more of them were hutcheads wanting to see Eric.
Fellow hutcheads Jade and ViennaKISS were at the show at The Recher Theater in Towson MD on 05/25/08. Jade wrote the review and ViennaKISS got some great pics. You can see more of the pics on Flickr. Thanks you two!
Jade Says:
May 25, 2008 at 11:00 pm e
I went to the concert at Towson today. Justin Nozuka was pretty good, he opened the show around 7:30. Marie was next (most of her songs are about some type of love), then Eric started playing around 9:30. If I remember correctly, he played all the songs off Sounds Like This, he played Sad Songs, and he did the My Girl/Ignition Remix. Both Marie and Eric played one new song but I’m not sure about Justin. Eric’s set was almost an hour long. I don’t remember the order, but I’m pretty sure “You’ve Got You” was first and “Ok, It’s Alright With Me” was last. As always he hung out in the back after the show. My friend and I got to take a picture with him. We didn’t get to talk to him much, except tell him that we saw him last month and give him some posters my friend made for him.
He wore an outfit similar to the one in the video, and his electric guitar is pink! pretty awesome. And Marie said that they all ride in the same tour bus which is pretty sick! (good “sick”, not bad “sick” )
As May 20th gets closer, more things are happening for the release of “Sounds Like This“. If you pre-order thru newburycomics.com, they will include an autographed CD insert. They don’t say it’s signed by Eric, so if you get a CD insert signed by Fred the stockboy you are stuck with it, but that’s just the disclaimer reading freak in me talking. Eric will always sign CD’s you buy at his shows, but if you can’t get to a show this may be for you. Check out the link
Things are picking up steam for Eric Hutchinson. Sounds Like This is being re-released by Warner Bros. Records in a few weeks, Rock N Roll should be hitting the radio and has a video as well. And now news that Rock N Roll will be used in big time movie “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2“, due out August 8th (Original here). I am sure this will boost Eric’s popularity with the younger, probably female, crowd. Rock N Roll will also be used in Fox’s “This Week in Baseball” highlights on May 24th. You can read the full press release on all of this news HERE.
It is nice to see WBR putting a lot of effort behind Eric. The next few months should be exciting.
The Rialto in Los Angeles was the sight for Eric’s first video shoot. Here are some pics Eric is sharing on his MySpace Blog. He has more so go check them out. I don’t know much about the video except “the video involves a gothic chick, a lion tamer, some 80s break-dancers and a waterslide.” Rumors are that Perez Hilton was involved as well. Hutchead.com will let you know more as we know more.
We are back from the Tulsa show and had a great weekend. Eric had some FedEx problems and was without a keyboard for the show, so he only did guitar songs.
Setlist was You Don’t Have To Believe Me; All Over Now; Smoke In My Face (adlib); My Girl/Ignition Remix; Back To Where I Was; Lisa; Rock N Roll. I was not happy with the video I shot at SXSW, so I tried the only other setting my little camera had, and it shot 19 frames per second. NOTHING is ever done in 19fps so it may be a bit before I can make it usable for everyone.
We talked with Eric a bit and he said to expect “Rock N Roll” to get some radio play next month. He also wanted everyone in southwestern states to know the 2nd half of his tour will be coming to Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, California, etc… Also, check eric-hutchinson.com for more t-shirt designs, they are coming soon (we got a few designed by Rachael Cox and they look great).
We also met some fellow hutcheads!
Christina
Mariah, Penny, Eric, Jeff
If we met you in Tulsa, give a shoutout to everyone!
What a day! First stop was Dirty Dog Bar where Eric wrapped up the Surrge.com party. Surrge looks like a cool way to share music, check it out if you have not. Anyway, before the show we talked with Eric’s manager Dave Morris of W. F. Leopold Management Inc. He informed us that Eric had signed with Warner Bros. Records. We also taked with Jenna Baum of Warner Bros.
Then Eric hit the stage with his bassist, Tom Craskey, and his drummer, Mark Biondi. Both have been on the road with Eric for about 8 months now. It was hot and humid, with little to no AC, and Erics voice wasn’t at it’s peak, but he gave it his all, like always.
Setlist= You Don’t Have To Believe Me, Freak Control, Oh!, Food Chain, All Over Now, Rock N Roll, Call Me Back.
We got some good pics, and I will be uploading some songs to YouTube. The video’s were taken on my tiny Kodak M853 so the sound is not great, but I did manage to get close enough that some of our musician readers should be able to make out some guitar chords. Post them here if you can, we have a lot of people asking.
Then dinner, people watching, and off to the Perez Hilton presents One Night In Austin. Robyn opened up with about 45 minutes of pop goodness. Then Eric played 4 songs. You Don’t Have To Believe Me, Oh!, Rock N Roll, and (I think) Food Chain. The place was packed and it was a good party.
Perez rocked out to the tunes all night. Thanks Perez! More pics in the Pics section.
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