Gallery: Lawrence Houston Show

Photos by: Raphael Fernandez

Lawrence gave Houston an incredible performance of live soul-pop on Oct. 2 at the House of Blues, with assistance from Jukebox the Ghost.

Jukebox the Ghost opened the show for the corduroy, snapback and go-go boot wearing crowd with their TikTok hit “Under My Skin” followed by “Ramona” and “Jumpstarted.” Ben Thornewill played the piano before surprising the audience with a Keytar performance, and Jesse Kristin then took some time away from the drums to sing during their transition into “Hollywood.”

In recognition of October, Tommy Siegel asked if the band could play something “uncharacteristically spooky.” The lights dimmed red and the riffs of “Everybody Panic” came through Siegel’s guitar. Following an enthusiastic solo, “Girl” was performed.

The band performed “Colorful” before introducing their “HalloQueen” performance–covers of Queen songs with the band cosplaying as members of Queen. They could not go into full costume for the current tour, but promised a full display the next time they’re in town. Then, they belted their way into Queen’s “Somebody To Love.”

The trio finished their set with tracks with “Everybody’s Lonely” and “Fred Astaire” from their album, “Off to the Races.” They expressed their honor to be there, waved to the audience and handed out set lists and keepsakes to fans in the front row as they made their exit.

Lawrence kicked off their show with an employee training video. The band then ran on stage with consecutive performances of “Family Business,” “Do,” and “i’m confident that i’m insecure” from their newest album, “Family Business.”

Clyde Lawrence, lead vocalist and keyboard player, announced that the band would journey into some tracks from their “Hotel TV” album as they played “Casualty.”

The master of keys officially welcomed the audience to the tour, stating that “Family Business” was their fourth album. With such a large discography, they had the audience vote on the next song between the options of “Shot,” “Make a Move” and the eventual winner, “Freckles.”

With the crowd chanting along, the band hopped on top of their office desks. The brass trio of Marc Langer, Jordan Cohen and Sumner Becker sounded their horns for the return of the “Family Business” tracks, making way for Clyde Lawrence to rock the keys and vocals for “Guy I Used To Be.”

Gracie Lawrence, lead vocalist and sibling to Clyde Lawrence, took a pause to thank everyone for allowing them to make music, noting the variety of moods on the album as a segue into the slower and somber sounds of “Death of Me” and “Funeral.”

The crash of keys and brass came back, breaking apart the darkness of the venue as the video boards exploded into an array of lights for the groovier sounds of “It’s Not All About You.” Those lights then dimmed for another humorous training video; an employee spotlight on Bass player Michael Karsh.

After the introductory clip the band went right back into the music for “Hip Replacement.”

Their performance was followed by another sketch on the video boards, referencing the band’s Senate testimony and New York Times Op Ed fighting for better promoter-artist relationships in the ticketing and live event industry.

As the video ended, Lawrence informed the audience that Live Nation agreed to waive their merch cut on low capacity venues, encouraging fans to purchase swag to their heart’s content.

Gracie Lawrence then welcomed the concert-goers to the acoustic office for the next set of tracks.

They began with “Promotion” featuring the whimsical whistling of guitarist Jonny Koh, followed by Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” with assistance from Jukebox the Ghost.

The acoustics continued with angelic vocals from Gracie Lawrence on “The Weather” with a smooth Alto Saxophone solo from Sumner Becker. This flowed into an explosive group performance of “Something In The Water.”

The band clocked out of the acoustic office with a bombastic cover of Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” featuring the heavy drumming of Sam Askin before sliding over into a performance of “Probably Up.”

Gracie Lawrence prepped the audience to chant “twenty three” for their performance of “23” before signaling the end of the show with performances of “Do You Wanna Do Nothing with Me?” and “Don’t Lose Sight.”

Another video played for their exit, only for Gracie Lawrence to come on screen and claim to hear a chant of “one more song” from the audience, to which the crowd immediately parroted. The band came back and surprised the audience with news of two more songs before the true end of the set as the video boards displayed walls of fire for “The Heartburn Song.”

Clyde Lawrence thanked everyone in the band and venue for their hard work, turning to the video board as a final film played that celebrated the band’s past 10 years of music before the closing number.

Lawrence exploded into “Whatcha Want” with Jukebox the Ghost’s instrumentation and the audiences’ vocal harmonies bringing support. The venue’s combined talent echoed through the building as Gracie Lawrence pushed a big red button on stage that set off confetti cannons–ending the show in an explosion of light and horns.

Lawrence brought soul, and they sure did make it pop!