Jacob Collier proves to be a Jacob-of-all-trades at The Wiltern

Jacob Collier played The Wiltern last night for the first of two nights there as part of his Djesse tour. Jacob Collier is the definition of a one man show, however he does have a band on tour with him. I’d like to think of him as a modern day George Gershwin or Henry Mancini as a composer, but he not only plays piano, he also plays guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and percussion which he did throughout the show.

Collier has broken all kinds of records especially as a young artist. Collier became the first British artist to win a GRAMMY for all four of his albums. At 22 he had already won two Grammys and now at 27 has won a total of 5 of 10 nominations as well as two Jazz FM Awards. As far back as 2012, Collier became an internet sensation with his split-screen covers, just two years later he signed with Quincy Jones’ management and soon after began his one-man show. Collier’s debut album In My Room was released in 2016. In 2018 Collier started working on Djesse, a massive three part album which includes more than 20 artists and ensembles. Volume one was released in 2018, followed by volume two in 2019, and three in 2020. Other than a few covers, Collier composed each song alone, except for 14 that had a co-writer. Since 2015 Collier has recorded with BTS/Coldplay, David Crosby, Snarky Puppy, Sza, and more.

Collier opened with “With the Love in My Heart,” and by song three “Feel,” had already played piano, keyboard, drums, and guitar. Later he would also play bass. He also played guitar and piano at the same time, something I’ve never seen done before. Before the show started Collier did a Freddie Mercury style sing-a-long with the audience. As much as this show is about music, it is also about the visuals too having a big J in the middle above the stage with gong in it, and a park bench with small trees on each side that Collier used when he played bass. For the encore Collier performed the title track off his first album The Beach Boys’ “In My Room.” If there’s one artist under 30 to see, this is the one. The show is all about harmonies and audience participation.

The North American part of the tour concludes in Columbus, OH May 21st. Collier will start the U.K. and European part June 3rd and has dates through July then again October through November.

Setlist: