London-based singer-songwriter-producer Bruno Major made his Los Angeles debut Friday night with a sold-out performance at The Echo, and he certainly lived up to the billing.
I found out about Bruno Major thanks to a well-placed e-mail from his publicist just a few weeks earlier. When a relatively new artists sells out a show as quickly as he sold out The Echo, it always makes me wonder just how he was able to do that. Prior to him taking the stage, I asked those around me how they found his music. One girl was another writer, one of my friends that came to the show works in music and had seen an e-mail from his team. But the overwhelming majority told me that he appeared on one of their daily mix Spotify playlists, or more commonly their Discover Weekly playlists. It’s pretty cool to see firsthand how an artist can gain traction this way.
Lots of people around me knew all the words to most of his release, A Song For Every Moon. Though I sort of caught some James Blake vibes from his studio stuff, live he gives me more of a Rhye meets John Legend vibe. He’s also an incredible guitarist, as he would often end his songs with spine-tingling solos. The dude has soul for days and days.
Bruno Major preceded one song with the story about how it was written following a bad breakup. “That misery was sweet, sweet nectar,” the London man joked. “All my writing friends got jealous — oh you got dumped? Lucky.” Bruno Major also remarked how when he traveled to the States, he only could bring what he could fit himself, so he ended up borrowing a pal’s keyboard and when his guitar stopped working, the guitar of one of the opening acts.
For “Places We Won’t Walk”, he got the crowd to hum in unison to start the song. The track itself sounded like a stripped-down early Coldplay song, or nearly like Coldplay singer Chris Martin singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, with its stripped back piano melody.
Bruno Major brought up one of the opening acts Emily Elbert to play “Easily”, probably the most known Bruno Major song, and one that Elbert co-wrote. Her sweet voice contrasted nicely with his deep vocals and it was easily the high point of the set.
Missed out on Bruno Major’s sold-out Los Angeles debut Friday night? Don’t worry! He’s announced that he will play a free show TONIGHT (November 6) at Bardot’s School Night series.
He’s also announced a North American tour for early next year that includes a stop at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever on February 21. Tickets to the show go on sale Friday, November 10 at 10 AM Pacific Time and are priced at $20.00. The doors open at 8 PM. UPDATE: The Masonic Lodge show sold out but a second one has been added for Thursday, February 22. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 17 at 10 AM Pacific Time.
Photos courtesy of Tim Aarons
BUY TICKETS TO SEE BRUNO MAJOR AT THE MASONIC LODGE ON FEBRUARY 21
BUY TICKETS TO SEE BRUNO MAJOR AT THE MASONIC LODGE ON FEBRUARY 22
