On Sept. 18, the Jonas Brothers performed at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on their world tour. While attention was focused on the main attraction, the show’s opener Lawrence, a brother-sister duo from New York that makes great soul music, deserves more attention.
Lawrence is composed of eight talented musicians and they’ve been making music since 2013. Their first album, “Breakfast,” debuted in 2016. The lead vocalists, Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, performed since their youth and have now reached the ears of many, as they’ve toured around the country twice. First on their solo “Hotel TV” tour and now they are touring with the Jonas Brothers.
Lawrence has come out with three original albums with various EPs and movie soundtracks under their belts as well. Even though they’re not as well-known as the Jonas Brothers, they are making their mark on the music industry. Their most recent success is their new docuseries detailing their “Hotel TV” tour and all of its ups and downs.
Lawrence brought great energy and sound to their set at Rocket Mortgage. They started strong with “More” from their album “Living Room,” which is one of the most popular songs in the collection. It was a powerful opening with heavy instrumentals and strong vocals.
Lawrence then fast-forwarded to “Hotel TV” by playing “It’s Not All About You” with tenacity. This fun, upbeat song details the dreaded experience of having a friend who only ever talks about themselves.
The band continued with another fast-paced hit “Casualty.” Typically, Gracie leads the vocals in the band’s songs, but “Casualty” is written to showcase Clyde’s vocals, which gives the song a unique sound. It also showcases his skills on the keyboard, as well as their trumpeter’s strong sound. The band then switched up their upbeat, jazzy sound for R&B and sang their new single “i’m confident that i’m insecure,” which was written by Gracie during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is about the struggles of being a woman in the music industry. Gracie’s vocals blow you away during this angsty song and the band made it more personal by encouraging the crowd to join in and sing the chorus along with them.
Unfortunately, the vocals were occasionally overpowered by the instrumentalists, which was a common issue throughout the set. Even so, the song set a high standard for the rest of the set, which was fulfilled with other great choices.
To begin the second half of their set, Lawrence surprised the crowd with a cover of “Get Busy” by Sean Paul which hyped up the arena. The band had a lot of fun with this song, starting out with Gracie doing pushups and the band members dancing throughout. Lawrence then went back in time with their hit “Do You Wanna Do Nothing with Me?” from “Breakfast.” This fun-loving tune about spending quality time with a partner made many members of the crowd get up and dance. Even the instrumentalists did a conga line and played each other’s instruments while doing so, which was an impressive feat.
As their set was coming to a close, Lawrence played a cover of “It’s Gonna Be Me” by NSYNC, which they originally recorded on “Hotel TV” with the Brasstracks, another jazzy soul group. The band added a lively swing to the song with powerful instrumental elements including a great electric guitar solo. Their final song of the night is their most popular, “Don’t Lose Sight,” from “Hotel TV.” Lawrence altered the beginning of the song, adding a soulful flare that made for a great outro. Being their most popular song, the crowd enjoyed the end of the set and sang along.
Overall, Lawrence had a phenomenal set with wonderful instrumentalists and a great stage presence. Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was an impressive venue for them to perform in, supplemented by interesting lighting and themed graphics on the big screen for the crowd to enjoy. Lawrence has a refreshing sound and a strong future ahead.
