LIVE REVIEW - THE FRAY
The concert took place in the Silver Legacy in Reno, Nevada in the Grand Exposition Hall. The Hall seats around 1,600 fans in an intimate and sophisticated setting. Even though the show started at 8, most people didn’t wonder in until right before The Fray came on around 9, then every seat was filled. As you would expect with a band like this most of the audience was either older ladies or young girls, most of them came with their husbands/ boyfriends.
“Scars On 45” was the opening act, they are a 6 piece band from Leeds, UK, that have vocals from both a girl and a guy, which is always refreshing to hear.
I never have really high expectations for opening acts, but they were a very pleasant surprise. Their music is indie/ alt rock with a lot of honest emotional.
Even though everyone in the crowd stayed seated through their performance, they got a big applause after each song.
What I also loved about them is they talked a lot to the crowd, they were witty and charming. One of the singers, Danny, said “I know Vegas has a saying, it’s like… what stays in Vegas stays in Vegas?...Does Reno have a motto?” (The crowd yells at him ‘Biggest Little City’) he responds with “Brilliant, Brilliant… I don’t know what that means.”
Then as they were introducing themselves; Aimee, vocals, said “Danny looks like Charlie Bucket from, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and then she introduced Nova, piano, “He looks like Danny Zucko from Grease”( She starts singing “You're The One That I Want”).
They also went on saying that they were voted “worst accents” over in England and then preceded to asking if we “understood what they were saying.”
Their performance was short and sweet, 30 minutes, but they did a magnificent job at keeping the crowd entertained, and laughing, while waiting for The Fray, and at one point said “I know I hate sitting through an opening act when waiting for the band you came to see play.”
The did a mix of songs like; “Give Me Something”, “Promises and Empty Words”, “Loudest Alarm”, “Tomorrow Won’t Die Too Soon”, their hit single “Hearts On Fire” and also a new song called “Dancing”.
The last song they did was a cover of Rihanna’s “We Found Love In A Hopeless Place”, which got everyone in the audience dancing and smiling.
After a 30 minuet set up, The Fray walked on the stage. The anticipation had finally been lifted and the crowd went wild! Every one stood up started clapping and jumping up and down trying to see the band members on stage.
They started right off with one of their new songs off of ‘Scars and Stories’ called “Turn Me On.” They then did a few other songs without ever talking to the audience.
They finally started talking to us after the 3rd or 4th song, and said something about how it’s weird that people were sitting down and then the lead singer, Isaac, said “We’re going to sing some songs you know and some you may not know, but if you know a song and I see you sitting down I’m going to find you…”
While they didn’t talk to the audience as much as Scars on 45 did, the fans didn’t care. They passion that The Fray have when they perform is breathtaking; they put everything they have into each song. You can tell this is what they truly love doing.
They performed a mix of their new songs and then some of their hits including; “You Found Me”, “Over My Head (Cable Car)”, “Never Say Never”, and “How To Save A Life”.
They dedicated their song “Happiness” to the recent passing of Whitney Houston. During that song the lead singer Isaac got off the stage, which I thought was amazing to see since most bands don’t do that anymore, and walked through the crowd, all while not missing a beat and the love-struck fan girls were following him.
If you ever get a chance to see either of the bands I really recommend going. They are both astonishing live!
The video clips I have are of Scars on 45 performing “Promises and Empty Words”, The Fray performing “You Found Me’, The Fray lead singer (Isaac) walking through the crowd while singing “Happiness”, “Never Say Never”, and “Over My Head (Cable Car).”