CHANCE PENA - LIVE IN SLC
7:00pm, Saturday February 10th. A long line down the alley to Utah’s favorite venue for a sold out show. “Daddy, when is Chance gonna play?” A young boy asks his father on that cold February night, drowning in his new tour shirt. Excitement fills the small garage as fans pack in to see Chance Peña on his sold out, 2024 I am Not Who I Was tour at Kilby Court.
The show was opened by the artist known as Hayd. Hayd is a singer-songwriter from Michigan who not only wrote his songs, but helped write some of Chance Peña’s songs as well. The two artists have a similar sound of haunting beauty that the audience can’t help but to be hypnotized by from the first note. Not often do you see a pair of artists together on tour that are already so close and intertwined in each other’s lives, but this pair truly makes for the best and most cohesive show I have witnessed.
Hayd’s set, while short and sweet, was exactly the right thing to prepare the audience for Peña’s performance. Listening to Hayd’s set felt so nostalgic, so familiar, his sound feels like the backing track to a coming of age movie, and it's truly an incredible feeling. This has got to have been the most relaxed show I have ever been to, not a mosh pit in sight, maybe a calm sway from time to time. Everyone felt so in sync, so touched, so enthralled by these melancholy melodies performed by both artists. The venue was entranced, silently falling in love and falling apart with Hayd as he worked his way through his set. His melodic guitar and piano will not be soon forgotten in the valley. Listening to the crowd as they left, it sounds as if Hayd will be a very popular name in Salt Lake City and welcomed back with open arms any time, headlining or otherwise.
At 9:00pm on Saturday, February 10th, 2024, Chance Peña graced the stage of a sold out Kilby Court down a dark alley in Salt Lake City Utah. That little boy, drowning in his new Chance Peña shirt, cheered with excitement. Even with such a mellow crowd, you could feel the anticipation and joy filling the room. The moment fans had waited out in the cold for had finally come. Opening with an unreleased song called Upside Down, I swear you could feel the audiences’ breath catch in their lungs, taken aback by the pure beauty of Peña’s voice and demeanor. He then moved into Sleep Deprivation, and if you have ever heard Chance Peña before, you will know how hauntingly beautiful this piece is. It was truly an amazing way to set the tone for the rest of the set. About half of Peña’s set was unreleased music, much to my surprise. However, I do feel that this was a phenomenal way to set up his show, letting these fans that have so much love and have found so much comfort in Chance’s music know what they have to look forward to, like a sneak peek into our futures. This also allowed for a more cohesive set as his newer music is leaning into a more folksy style which is very fitting for the artist’s voice and tone.
Not only was this show sold out, but in fact, the entire tour was, and to no surprise. After seeing Chance Peña perform live, I have a whole new appreciation for his music. If I could only describe Peña in two words they would be talented and personable. Peña is one of those artists who plays into their raw sound, hearing him live feels so truthful to his records, what you hear in the recordings is truly him, not layers of autotune placed over a voice. Before every new song, Chance would share a story about how the song he was about to play came to be, whether they be stories from when he was younger, or more recent ones. It felt like a window into his life, it made the songs feel more personable and relatable. The entire show didn’t feel like watching some big performer trying to make it on to the next city, but sitting down with an old friend and catching up.
I am sure that as Chance Peña continues to release new music and grow as an artist, he will continue to sell out tour after tour. This show, while outside of my usual genres, was truly one of the best I have been to, and I personally, will be there every time Peña is in town selling out larger and larger venues. I cannot express enough how this music will make you feel. It is as if Peña in his 23 years of life, has lived thousands of them, and all of the lessons he has learned, he chooses to share with us, in case anyone else has ever or will ever feel the same.
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