Greyson Chance is a rising star, well, sort of. He has already been to the top, had a fantastic career in music, been on Ellen several times, then been abandoned by his label and agent, and it all crashed in one week. All of that even before he made it out of high school.
He was raised in Tulsa Oklahoma and is proud of that as it has made him tough. He was fanned into the flames of stardom when someone posted to YouTube a simple video of him doing a Lady Gaga cover from his junior high school talent show. It went more than viral and soared into fame at a very young age. He came out as gay at 17 while still under this fresh new microscope of fame.
Chance has had several bumps and valleys in his career, but now, seems to be back, and climbing, once again proving, you are NEVER at the top of your game, as you can just keep going. This year, 2022 has been a busy year for him with his starring in a film opposite Robyn Cruze, and the new album ‘Palladium‘ with its subsequent tour which just recently ended in Salt Lake City. ‘Palladium’ is his 3rd album, and most mature and developed work, and I have to say, as a music critic/junkie, it is rather fantastic.
Related Post: Greyson Chance Talks Gaga, His Own Music, and ‘Maybelline Princess’
Greyson has a lot going on in Salt Lake, he has been involved with Encircle, and even ran a 10K race here recently. He told me in March that he would be playing a show in SLC in November. I was excited to cover that show, until just days before I saw his Instagram post that he had been hospitalized and was going to have to reschedule his last handful of shows, and until that day, a VERY successful tour.
To my surprise, it was just a week later that I was notified he had recovered and rescheduled.
Venue : The Grand Ballroom at The Complex
City : Salt Lake City Utah
Date : December 9th
Tour : Palladium
Supporting Act : Dynamyte
So I arrived at the venue at the scheduled time, walked past the line of fans queued up along the block, then into the VIP performance and meet and greet section.
Here’s the interview we had the pleasure to conduct with Greyson Chance.
I was more impressed with him as he talked to each of his fans, giving every one of them a hug, and saying “Hey, I remember you from the 2019 show right? THANKS SO MUCH FOR COMING BACK”. He was very friendly and showed his fans how much he appreciated them. One such fan was getting married in two days, and her fiancé was out at his bachelor party. He gave her hugs, and plenty of jokes about that, just a congenial guy.
He had this amazing duo opening for him called Dynamyte, just a singer/drummer, and keyboardist. This girl is amazing, a very soulful Adele (yes I did say that) and you should check them out. She was hard to get a good photo because she had what we in the concert photography industry call “Cymbal Face” where there was always some object in the way, not allowing that perfect shot, like a cymbal always in the way of the drummer’s face.
Greyson came onstage, and it was there that you saw how tall he really is. He has a great deal of swagger (not quite Bono, or Mick Jagger, but he does have quite a stage presence). He opened with “Athena”, and the powerful lyrics, kind of set the mood for the evening
“Singing where is Athena? Goddamnit I need her
To save me from all of this nothingness out on my own
I’m too dangerous to know
I need a holy vibration, I’m wanting
Just show me that one day I might be worth something, I hope
Know I’m done with being proud”
That song alone and the feeling it gave us was worth the evening.
He followed up with a song called “Aloe Vera” from the new album ‘Palladium’, then “West Texas” from his previous album ‘Portraits’. A couple of songs into the set he was bantering with the crowd and said, “I would love to keep going for you, but I am really having trouble with this pedal, can I get some tape?” and then he got it to work. It all sort of keeps everyone in high spirits and laughing.
When he played “Black Mascara”, I felt his vocals to be almost overpowering, he is a tall guy with a fantastic vocal range, but he can also fill the hall with his big voice when he wants to. He can talk to you as a very soft-mannered friendly guy, but when he needs to, his voice can take over a venue, it was honestly surprisingly loud for just keyboard guitar, and drums.
I could describe his music as this; there are two bands that I love, London Grammar, and Lumineers, he is a wonderful mix of both of them, with a familiar Americanist feel. He would switch from playing piano to taking the mic out front, seamlessly.
Something I realized during his song “Watchtower” is that Greyson Chance can sing in falsetto, and do it well, which made me reflect on that being sung by many, for instance, “The Bee Gees”, where it’s just annoying. A big winner there.
He sat at his keyboard and said, “Here at my concert, I am asking all of you to leave the world outside, leave everything on your mind, your troubles, problems, fears whatever, just leave them at the door, and I welcome all of you to be here, to be yourselves completely as you really are, just for these moments, and see what you can learn from it.” It was a great invitation to a lot of wonderful young people, many hoping to find acceptance and just understand themselves.
He played “Down and Out” and told some stories about how it feels to be in that situation. His guitarist successfully pulled off an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.
Something I spent the better part of his show trying to figure out is who he reminds me of. It took several songs to realize that his stage presence is so much like the lost legend Ian Curtis from Joy Division. I was sort of awestruck with how his movements, and performance were still his, but I was seeing enough of one of Rock and Roll’s lost sons performing in Greyson Chance. It was a bewildering moment for this old-school punk fan to see this. I’m not sure if any of the fans there saw the same thing, or understood it.
Greyson Chance, if you have watched him since he was a teenager, now 12 years into making music, has clearly developed his musical talent, and is out to inspire as many people as he can. ‘Palladium’ was a successful tour, it’s just a shame I saw him at the end of it. I hope you all catch him next time around as his performance has something for everyone, and you will see that as he tries to connect with each person in the crowd.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6u7YzxT7QZho04xVGjjFy1
https://www.instagram.com/greysonchance/
My sweet beautiful gay boy, I would love to make out with you 🙂