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The Student News Site of University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Badger Herald

The Student News Site of University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Badger Herald

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NEEDTOBREATHE brings classic rock n’ roll vibes to fangirl hordes at Orpheum

Openers Ben Rector, pair of Tennessee-based groups set the tone for rambling Sunday evening
NEEDTOBREATHE
Erik Brown
NEEDTOBREATHE

Grammy-nominated Christian rock band NEEDTOBREATHE played the Orpheum Sunday night, bringing a handful of musician friends and an out-of-the-box mindset for a high-energy performance.

Headliner NEEDTOBREATHE as well as three openers composed the three-and-a-half hour show, all of whom were personally invited to hit the road for this leg of the “Tour De Compadres.”

The chemistry between the bands and melding of their musical stylings stayed true to the tour name. While on stage, the bands all spoke of each other with great praise and camaraderie, prompting positive vibes and radiating a sense of love and respect, which made for an overall genuine aura in the venue.

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The show kicked off at 7 p.m. with two back-to-back Tennessee-based rock n’ roll bands: Colony House and Drew Holcomb and Neighbors, respectively. Though the venue was not yet packed during either of the bands’ sets, they both acted as if it were. They asked fans to sing along and jumped around the stage, sparking surging positive vibes that only grew as the night went on.

Fans began to pack the venue when the third of the opening acts, Ben Rector, took the stage at around 8:20 p.m. Rector drifted between singer-songwriter ballads and more upbeat tunes. As he transitioned from song to song, he told stories and jokes, charming the audience with sincerity and wit.

He spoke about a taxi driver named Danny and those who work ordinary day-to-day jobs like him, and those who are deserving of fans, yet lack fans. He further joked about cheese, saying he was going to get along great with Wisconsin because he loves its staple dairy prodcut.

The now packed house shared laughs and sung along to all of the upbeat songs. As Rector closed his set, the crowd rose into a standing ovation — a rarity for an opening act.

As 9:30 p.m. rolled around, the lights went down and the venue faded to black, preparing audiences for the final act of the night. With a flash of multicolored lights, NEEDTOBREATHE, a hybrid genre, indie-country-rock band of four from South Carolina, began their set.

The band played through a series of songs from their five albums, combining old tunes, such as “More Time,” with newer ones such as, “Wasteland,” “Brother” and “Oh, Carolina,” from the their 2014 release, “Rivers in the Wasteland.”

The production of the show was reminiscent of a classic rock n’ roll performance, composed of lead singer Baer Rinehart’s raspy lead vocals. He sported a velvet red jacket, electric guitars, onstage motion and was backed by a light show. Together, all of these aspects heightened the crowd’s already gleaming exuberance. Vividly colored moving strobes projected into the audience, with a single spotlight focused on the stage, putting on a full visual display for the audience rather than just an audio experience. The spotlight followed the band’s guitar player, Bo Rinehart, as well as the band’s bass player, Seth Bolt, as they each ran across the stage one-by-one. They took turns playing improvised solos, adding to the rock n’ roll feel.

The four-member band did not take the stage alone, rather with three extra members, who added a symphony of drums and guitar to the already rollicking sound. The two drummers played their sets in sync, making for a cool visual and added edge. The extraneous guitars also provided room for more solos comprised of electric and classic chords, resulting in a unique country-rock hybrid performance.

As the band closed their set, the audience remained on their feet, dancing and singing, as they had throughout the majority of the performance. The audience gave their second standing ovation of the night, channeling the high-energy vibes the four acts supplied them with over the course of the evening. They made it clear that this show was not only musically exceptional, but with production and added elements, it was everything the audience had expected and more.

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