Rob the Concert Guy

On October 26, 2023 I found myself back in Boston at the House of Blues with my daughter and wife to see Jessie Murph again.

The opener was some young dude named Henry Verus. I will say…meh. His first couple of notes sounded like David Kushner…but not as good. Then as it went on, he changed. To me, it seems he really wishes he could sing like Lewis Capaldi…but he cannot. After that, I was thinking his ultimate goal is to be Ryan Tedder…but he will never be. I’m happy to be proved wrong. But really, he just sounded basic. Nothing special.

He did do a cover of Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton…but it was no Stapleton. He also covered Rihanna’s Stay…but it was no Rihanna.

As always, I like to observe the crowd when I go to shows where I don’t really know the performer. In this case, the crowd was very talkative and not paying much attention to his set. And because his songs were pretty wussy, the chatter overpowered him.

On a positive note, his 2-man band was pretty good. The drummer looked bored playing the tunes, but when he had the opportunity, he had some great fills, he hit those skins hard, and when the singing portion of the final song was over, he had a chance to be the star of the show and beat the piss out of the drums. The guitar player was decent too. He doubled as keyboard player as well. So there was some decent talent. My advice is that these dudes find a new frontboy and move on.

Jessie Murph was next to headline the show. We saw her earlier in the year in March and this was a better show if you ask me. This time around she had a full band and a much bigger stage to perform on. She still rocks the giant baggy pants and this time had a Red Sox jersey.

She opened with Cowboys and Angels which is the name of this tour. She’s a tiny little thing but she does have a unique voice. I still can’t figure out if it’s really her real voice or if she changes it to sing, but it’s unique regardless.

Just like in March, I really didn’t know any of her songs. However, the sound was good here and I was able to figure most out by her lyrics. Speaking of her lyrics….

1. She has a potty mouth. Lots of F bombs! But I’m fine with that.
2. She’s only 18 or 19 and sings a lot about booze, men, and cocaine. Rough life or just likes the topics? I have no idea.

Last time we saw her, I said she didn’t really do much crowd interaction and that generally annoys me. However, this time she did a fair amount of chatting and also explained that she has stage fright when it comes to talking to the crowd. Singing is one thing, but talking is another. I totally get that. You have to be comfortable with the material. Did she read my last post and decided to address it? Ha! I doubt it!

Again, I don’t know her songs, but she did one called Dirty that I kinda dug. It was bluesy, angry, and her voice was a bit raspier for this one. Good tune! After that one was her song Texas which is apparently a duet with someone, so she brought the opener back out to sing the part. Boo!! My daughter agreed he’s lame. She looked at me with disgust when he sang his part. Not impressed.

If you know her, you know she also has a song called Wild Ones and does a duet version of it with Jelly Roll. She did not do the Jelly Roll version though, only her solo version. For this one, she was escorted by security to the middle of the crowd, sang half of it on a ladder, and then got a ride back to the stage on a large man’s shoulder. Not sure what it was all about, but she walked right by us twice, so that was cool.

She closed the show with Heartbroken and we made our way out. She did do an encore and it seems Upgrade was the song being played as we were leaving. But my daughter doesn’t like that one and was ready to go.

Overall…not bad. I’ve seen her twice, and I enjoyed the 2^nd time much more. She’s certainly growing in popularity which is evidenced by the size of the venue and the crowd. She’s young and has plenty of potential. Will she reach superstardom? Time will tell.

Set List (I believe):

• Cowboys and Angels
• About You
• Maybe while you’re at it
• Mean it
• Medley of songs
• Drunk in bathtub
• Pray
• What Happened to Ryan
• If I died last night
• Back to Black (Amy Winehouse cover)
• How could you
• Wildflowers and wine
• Always Been You
• Someone Like You (Adele cover)
• Dirty
• Texas – duo with lame opener
• It Ain’t Right
• Where Do You Go
• Wild Ones
• Heartbroken