Friday night Flint's Machine Shop patrons were treated to a night of inspiring music from indie rock's Thriving Ivory and Live's Ed Kowalczyk, who is performing material off of his solo album Alive for the first time.
Kowalczyk found massive success as the frontman and song writer for alternative rock band Live, whose arena rock songs like "I Alone" and powerful ballads like "Lightning Crashes" made them one of the most popular bands in the early nineties.
After the break-up of Live in 2009, Kowalczyk was unsure about the next step in his career and spent time doing some soul searching before he decided to try his hand at writing music for himself.
The result of that soul searching is Alive, a personal album that explores Kowalczyk's spiritual side and speaks to his gratitude for the life that he leads.
Earlier this year, Kowalczyk put together a new band to help him bring his new material to the stage. This includes Ramy Antoun on drums, James Gabbie on lead guitar, Chris Heerlein on bass, and brother Adam Kowalczyk on rhythm guitar, who also toured with Live.
Friday, the tour made a stop at the Machine Shop and found a enthusiastic crowd eager to embrace the new songs as loudly as they did the performances of the Live material.
The show opened with Flint's own metal band Frequency 54, whose enigmatic front man Justin Rose did everything possible to get the small crowd that made it out to the show early on their feet and feeling their music.
At one point Rose made his way to the back of the venue to stand on a ledge above the crowd seated at the venue's tables.
The band really rocked it out and Rose started off strong but his voice seemed to falter a bit towards the end of the set.
It'll be interesting to see how they fare with a little more experience and touring time behind them.
The set was noteworthy for the fact that it marked Frequency 54's final show with bassist Kurt Stuart, who is leaving to spend more time with his family.
Up next was The Miggs, whose set was pretty disappointing, mostly due to the loudness of their set.
Not sure if the venue itself was responsible or the band's own set up but vocalist Don Miggs was almost impossible to hear at times as he was overshadowed by the rest of the band and the loud amps.
It's a shame because if you listen to some of their music Miggs has a great voice and it would have been nice to see that showcased live.
Thriving Ivory were up next and features vocalist Clayton Stroope, whose unique, powerful voice is perfect for a live setting.
The band got on the tour after meeting Kowalczyk in the studio through a mutual friend, Wind-Up Records producer Greg Wattenberg, who not only worked on Kowalczyk's new album but Thriving Ivory's sophomore release Through Yourself and Back Again.
Thriving Ivory gained attention with their self-titled debut album and popular single, "Angels On the Moon", which was written around the time of 9/11 and struck a chord with it's listeners.
The band's heartfelt lyrics and anthemic rock songs have gained them a large fan base and make them a band to keep an eye on.
Friday night, they took the stage at the Machine Shop just as the venue began to fill up.
Their forty minute set was full of songs off of their new album as well as some of their older crowd favorites like "For Heaven's Sake" and "Angels On The Moon".
Set highlights included a standout performance of new single "Where We Belong" and new song "Moonlight", which featured the band all coming to the front of the stage where drummer Paul Niedermier had a single drum to play on.
They then brought a couple of fans up to the stage to help close the song out on the drums as Niedermier returned to his drum set.
Finally, it was time for Ed Kowalczyk to take the stage to the crowd's obvious delight.
During his hour and forty minute set, Kowalczyk ran through a number of songs off of Alive as well as songs from his Live era.
Songs like "All Over You", "Selling the Drama" and "I Alone" went hand in hand with newer songs "The Great Beyond", "Zion" and "Drink (Everlasting Love)".
Kowalczyk seemed to really be feeling the music and enjoying being back on stage again as he interacted with the crowd, spent a great deal of time laughing with his band and danced around the stage.
At one point he even came down to the crowd and may his way from one end to the other shaking hands and giving out hugs.
Set highlights included powerful performances of new song "Drive" and classic Live track "Heaven".
At one point, Kowalczyk took some time to talk about his tour's sponsor World Vision, which is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children and their families worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Kowalczyk got involved with the organization after he became inspired while doing his "nightly job" of getting glasses of water for his two young daughters, a simple pleasure that many throughout the world are not able to do.
Each venue on the tour will have a World Vision table where information about the organization can be obtained and donations can be made.
After leaving the stage, Kowalczyk returned for a encore of new song "Fire on the Mountain", first Alive single "Grace", standout Live track "Lightning Crashes" and Live song "Dance With You".
Ed Kowalczyk Set List:
Just In Time
The Great Beyond
The Distance
All Over You
Selling the Drama
Zion
Drive
The Dolphin's Cry
Soul Whispers
Everlasting Love
Stand
Heaven
I Alone
Encore:
Fire on the Mountain
Grace
Lightning Crashes
Dance With You
Kowalczyk found massive success as the frontman and song writer for alternative rock band Live, whose arena rock songs like "I Alone" and powerful ballads like "Lightning Crashes" made them one of the most popular bands in the early nineties.
After the break-up of Live in 2009, Kowalczyk was unsure about the next step in his career and spent time doing some soul searching before he decided to try his hand at writing music for himself.
The result of that soul searching is Alive, a personal album that explores Kowalczyk's spiritual side and speaks to his gratitude for the life that he leads.
Earlier this year, Kowalczyk put together a new band to help him bring his new material to the stage. This includes Ramy Antoun on drums, James Gabbie on lead guitar, Chris Heerlein on bass, and brother Adam Kowalczyk on rhythm guitar, who also toured with Live.
Friday, the tour made a stop at the Machine Shop and found a enthusiastic crowd eager to embrace the new songs as loudly as they did the performances of the Live material.
The show opened with Flint's own metal band Frequency 54, whose enigmatic front man Justin Rose did everything possible to get the small crowd that made it out to the show early on their feet and feeling their music.
At one point Rose made his way to the back of the venue to stand on a ledge above the crowd seated at the venue's tables.
The band really rocked it out and Rose started off strong but his voice seemed to falter a bit towards the end of the set.
It'll be interesting to see how they fare with a little more experience and touring time behind them.
The set was noteworthy for the fact that it marked Frequency 54's final show with bassist Kurt Stuart, who is leaving to spend more time with his family.
Up next was The Miggs, whose set was pretty disappointing, mostly due to the loudness of their set.
Not sure if the venue itself was responsible or the band's own set up but vocalist Don Miggs was almost impossible to hear at times as he was overshadowed by the rest of the band and the loud amps.
It's a shame because if you listen to some of their music Miggs has a great voice and it would have been nice to see that showcased live.
Thriving Ivory were up next and features vocalist Clayton Stroope, whose unique, powerful voice is perfect for a live setting.
The band got on the tour after meeting Kowalczyk in the studio through a mutual friend, Wind-Up Records producer Greg Wattenberg, who not only worked on Kowalczyk's new album but Thriving Ivory's sophomore release Through Yourself and Back Again.
Thriving Ivory gained attention with their self-titled debut album and popular single, "Angels On the Moon", which was written around the time of 9/11 and struck a chord with it's listeners.
The band's heartfelt lyrics and anthemic rock songs have gained them a large fan base and make them a band to keep an eye on.
Friday night, they took the stage at the Machine Shop just as the venue began to fill up.
Their forty minute set was full of songs off of their new album as well as some of their older crowd favorites like "For Heaven's Sake" and "Angels On The Moon".
Set highlights included a standout performance of new single "Where We Belong" and new song "Moonlight", which featured the band all coming to the front of the stage where drummer Paul Niedermier had a single drum to play on.
They then brought a couple of fans up to the stage to help close the song out on the drums as Niedermier returned to his drum set.
Finally, it was time for Ed Kowalczyk to take the stage to the crowd's obvious delight.
During his hour and forty minute set, Kowalczyk ran through a number of songs off of Alive as well as songs from his Live era.
Songs like "All Over You", "Selling the Drama" and "I Alone" went hand in hand with newer songs "The Great Beyond", "Zion" and "Drink (Everlasting Love)".
Kowalczyk seemed to really be feeling the music and enjoying being back on stage again as he interacted with the crowd, spent a great deal of time laughing with his band and danced around the stage.
At one point he even came down to the crowd and may his way from one end to the other shaking hands and giving out hugs.
Set highlights included powerful performances of new song "Drive" and classic Live track "Heaven".
At one point, Kowalczyk took some time to talk about his tour's sponsor World Vision, which is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children and their families worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Kowalczyk got involved with the organization after he became inspired while doing his "nightly job" of getting glasses of water for his two young daughters, a simple pleasure that many throughout the world are not able to do.
Each venue on the tour will have a World Vision table where information about the organization can be obtained and donations can be made.
After leaving the stage, Kowalczyk returned for a encore of new song "Fire on the Mountain", first Alive single "Grace", standout Live track "Lightning Crashes" and Live song "Dance With You".
Ed Kowalczyk Set List:
Just In Time
The Great Beyond
The Distance
All Over You
Selling the Drama
Zion
Drive
The Dolphin's Cry
Soul Whispers
Everlasting Love
Stand
Heaven
I Alone
Encore:
Fire on the Mountain
Grace
Lightning Crashes
Dance With You
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