Editor\u2019s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.<\/p>\n
The world is full of artists, but few are as reflective and humbly brilliant as Charlie Puth. Well known for his perfect pitch, Puth is recognized as a musical genius \u2014 one who builds finger-snapping songs about life and crafts intimate melodies chronicling relationships.<\/p>\n
On Friday night, fans flocked to Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, eager to witness Puth work his magic on his \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!\u201d album tour. This marks Puth\u2019s fourth studio album, and the tour will run from April to July, featuring over 50 shows worldwide.<\/p>\n
His San Francisco stop opened with a set by up-and-coming artist (and fellow New Jerseyan) Ally Salort, who enamored the crowds with a sweet and sparkly demeanor paired with a graceful folksy-pop style. Singing in a timbre that felt like a combination of Taylor Swift and Lizzy McAlpine, Salort crooned her way into audience members\u2019 hearts (including mine) with poignant selections ranging from her own single \u201cDeeper Meaning\u201d to a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls\u2019 hit \u201cIris.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after Salort\u2019s set ended, second opener Daniel Seavey brought smiles to faces as he jumped from electric guitar to drumset to cello, capturing each instrument on his looper before returning to guitar for his first banger \u201cBlame It On You.\u201d Seavey was a charismatic personality from the moment he set foot on stage, charming the audience with his magnetically lighthearted energy and a fan-requested loop machine cover of \u201cMan I Need\u201d by Olivia Dean. My personal favorite of Seavey\u2019s set was his 2023 single, \u201cI Tried,\u201d with its pensive, painfully beautiful melody and yearning lyrics.<\/p>\n
After a break between sets, the crowd cheered in surprise as the lights dimmed. As Puth\u2019s backing vocalists appeared on stage \u2014 encouraging the audience to make some noise for the man of the hour \u2014 Puth himself walked onstage to \u201cSeptember\u201d by Earth, Wind & Fire, a nod to the groovy 70s\/80s ambience embodied in his album. He emerged from the darkness into the spotlight, sporting a bright red shirt. Then he dove into the bright and disco-like \u201cBeat Yourself Up\u201d on keyboard, the second song on \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!\u201d<\/p>\n
Puth\u2019s set selections spanned the range of his 15-year musical career, including \u201cLA Girls\u201d from 2018 album \u201cVoicenotes\u201d and chart toppers like \u201cAttention\u201d and \u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk Anymore\u201d from 2016 album \u201cNine Track Mind.\u201d Many a time, Puth pointed his microphone at the audience, inviting them to sing along to their favorites \u2014 I definitely joined in on \u201cHow Long,\u201d even in the photo pit.<\/p>\n
Between songs, Puth frequently took to his keyboard to fiddle with some jazz riffs and recount ruminations on his work. At one point, he noted, \u201cThe great thing about music is it\u2019s really easy to look back\u2026 Imagine you have a soundtrack behind a [moment] \u2014 it becomes a double-memory.\u201d Puth\u2019s words struck a chord in me: While I can\u2019t speak for the rest of the audience, I can personally say that as a photographer, I love having soundtracks to my own photo work, recording concerts in my mind and in my camera.<\/p>\n
Puth\u2019s new work seems to exude a fondness for retro vibes, funky and fresh at times but simultaneously slow and smooth at others. As in the studio versions of \u201cHome\u201d and \u201cSideways,\u201d the singer performed duets with his band and backing vocalists, a nod to the impressive number of collaborations included in the original album.<\/p>\n
Towards the finale of a two-hour set, Puth performed a cover of Keyshia Cole\u2019s soulful \u201cLove\u201d with an incredible number of vocal turns and held notes. The second and third to last songs were some of the most emotional moments of the show, burrowing deep with longtime favorites \u201cSee You Again\u201d and \u201cOne Call Away.\u201d As I sang along with the crowd, voice cracking with emotion, I was brought back to a middle-school version of myself, one who had no concept of the weight behind those longing lyrics.<\/p>\n
To close the concert on a more upbeat note, Puth brought out the first song of his new album, \u201cChanges.\u201d With lyrics like \u201cSometimes the wind blows in different new directions and lessons are happenin\u2019 \/ Maybe that\u2019s just the way it is,\u201d it was a breath of fresh air \u2014 a reminder that things are always changing and we may not understand them, but that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n
It was the perfect ending for a show centered in soul-searching, memories and making beauty out of what we have. Puth\u2019s message was clear: Our lives are what we make of them, so we might as well live them to the fullest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques. The world is full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[126588,126589,126590,126591,25579,10587,17876,20122,126592,74454,330,18245,21720,126593,26985,8257,126594,126595,15060,101,103,102,126596,104,106,105,126597,126598],"class_list":["post-298824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-album-tour","tag-ally-salort","tag-ananya-navale","tag-art-critique","tag-bill-graham-civic-auditorium","tag-charlie-puth","tag-concert","tag-critique","tag-daniel-seavey","tag-earth-wind-and-fire","tag-music","tag-music-review","tag-musician","tag-nostalgic","tag-pop","tag-pop-music","tag-pop-musician","tag-puth","tag-review","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-see-you-again","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-we-dont-talk-anymore","tag-whatevers-clever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}