Ain't He Grand

Steve Grand in NYC

This past weekend singer-songwriter Steve Grand performed two shows at the Laurie Beechman theatre, located downstairs in the West Bank Café on 42^nd Street.  The theatre is an intimate cabaret venue, which is great because of you get to experience the performer up close and personal, but it is a bit of a tight squeeze when all seats are filled. 

This was my first time seeing the All American Boy singer live and he exceeded my expectations.  Wearing a pair of snugly-fitted jeans, a white t-shirt and black suspenders, he belted out songs from his two albums as well as covers of some of his favourite songs that have influenced and/or inspired him, accompanied only by a guitar or a piano.  He has a gift of making you feel as though you are the only person in the audience.  He was charming and gracious and, as a result, had the audience enthralled from the first song until the last, sharing songwriting stories and anecdotes from his life in between (an aside: his signature red Speedo didn’t make a guest appearance).

The setlist was as follows:

1.     Stay
2.    Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen cover)
3.    Forever Young (Alphaville cover)
4.    Old Man (Neil Young cover)
5.    We Are The Night
6.    Somebody To Love (Queen cover)
7.    Disciple
8.    Don’t Let The Light In
9.    Pink Champagne
10. All American Boy
11. Born This Way (Lady Gaga cover)
12. Shallow (Lady Gaga and Bradly Cooper cover)
13. Walking
14. Run