Hotel De Ville Tour
Toronto artist, Scott Helman, kicked off his “Hotel De Ville” tour at Club AbsinThe in Hamilton on June 8th 2017.
Ryland James
Starting off the show was 17-year-old Ryland James, who is emerging into the contemporary pop scene. Born in Deseronto in Eastern Ontario, he began posting covers online at a young age and competed on YTV’s singing competition, “The Next Star.” He’s been compared to Shawn Mendes, and is reminiscent of Sam Smith and James Arthur. His music video for his first single, “Good to You” came out the night of the show, and he currently has over 33 000 subscribers on YouTube. Don’t let his good looks fool you. His pipes are powerful. Take a look for yourself:
Featurette
Taking the stage next was electro-indie pop duo “Featurette” from Toronto. Formed by Lexi Jay and drummer, Jon Fedorsen, they certainly know how to get the crowd going with their upbeat tracks and high energy on stage. Definitely a duo to look out for in “feature”
Scott Helman
Finally, Scott Helman took the stage opening with his intro to his new album, “Hotel De Ville.” He weaved through the crowd before hoping on stage to sing his next song “Kites.” He played lots of new songs off the album, including older hits for fans like “That Sweater” and “Tikka.” He introduced his song “Ripple Effect” saying,
“This song took me a long time to write. Really took me my whole life to get to a place where I feel like I can say this to someone. And it’s called “Ripple Effect’, and it’s really just about making things better so if you’re going through a hard time, or you feel like something in the world is wrong, I hope this song makes you feel a bit better”
He also performed a new song that he said didn’t make the album. Judging by the misplace of random lyrics, I can see why. But is it still a jam? OF COURSE. Is it still stuck in the head? YOU BET!
The band came back on stage to perform their last song of the night, “Bungalow”. He even got the parents in the back singing and dancing along to his 2015 hit song.
The power of Social Media:
I discovered Scott Helman back in 2015 when I saw someone retweet one of his tweets. Just by a single tweet (and a little bit of creeping), I downloaded his EP “Augusta” and immediately connected to the album. As his fan base grew bigger and bigger every day, I noticed that his role on social media played out in his success. Back in 2015, our Canadian boy, Shawn Mendes, tweeted out one of Scott’s songs. Instant promotion right there. The way he interacts on Twitter keeps the fans engaged, and the record sales up. Just by a single tweet, I was able to find a new artist to support. And by attending the “Hotel De Ville” show, I was able to discover new musicians to add to my music playlist.
If you’ve like to check out some great new Canadian artists, follow them on Twitter here:
@ScottHelman
@FeaturetteMusic
@RylandJames1
Check out my other blog about Scott Helman performing at CBC Fest HERE:
