A Great Big World VIP acoustic performance before the concert

 

On April 3, 2016; Lincoln Hall in Chicago, IL was the venue for Genevieve/A Great Big World Concert.

The Grammy Award winning band “A Great Big World” would tell others “we started out by raising $20,000 over a two day period on the website Kickstart”.

Prior to the show; those who had VIP Passes where entertained by a meet and greet and personal acoustic set by the New York duo Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino of “A Great Big World”.  The highlight of the acoustic set was Ian signing “Say Something” accompanied by Oscar Rodriguez on acoustic guitar. Say Something has sold over 5 million records to date.   Chad contributed with an acoustic performance of “Shorty Don’t Wait” from the band’s first album “Is There Anybody Out There”.

Genevieve opened the show to a semi-packed house.  Her energy level was high and her songs true to life.  Overall, the crowd seemed to enjoy her performance.

Accompanied by a full band; the two man show (Ian and Chad); A Great Big World took the stage at about 9:00PM.  They opened the show with “All I Want is Love” off their second album “When The Morning Comes”.

“Kaleidoscope”; the self- titled Tour was played next to a rousing roar from the crowd.  This too comes from their second album.

Laughter filled the crowd when Chad asked “Who’s Gay”, followed by “Who’s Straight” and “Who’s Both”? That led into the playing of “Everyone is Gay from their first album.

Ian announced to the crowd “I’m getting married next week”; to a loud applause prior to playing “One Step Ahead” which he says “my girlfriend has always been one step ahead of me”.

Their second biggest hit to date; “Hold Each Other” was played eighth absent rapper “Futuristic”.  When asked how they found Futuristic; Ian told Behind The Musician’s Scott Snavely “we saw his video of Say Something on YouTube and knew he was the right person”.  Futuristic would go on to lend rapping vocals to a studio version of “Hold Each Other”.  This proved to be the most popular song of the night.

“Oasis” which will be their soon to be released single (although Ian tells BTM “where not sure what our next single will be”) was played past the half way point to a hopping/signing crowd.

The band’s biggest hit to date “Say Something” was played near the end of the show.  The song, featuring Christina Agullaria has gone on to be their biggest selling record to date.  With the spotlight on Ian’s subtle piano playing and vocals; the crowd seemed electric.

Encours were “Shorty Don’t Wait” and “Rockstar” from their second album.

While the concert hall was never quite full; you would have never had known from the engagement of the crowd.  It goes without saying; Chad and Ian are true entertainers with a real talent.