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Now if Seaforth could blaze their own path

Brighton Music Hall, Boston, March 13, 2023

Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz

Seaforth is your typical Australian pop loving (country?) duo following in the musical footsteps of U.S. duo Dan + Shay.

Both are squarely on the pop side of music with scant musical reference to more traditional perceptions of country music. Now, that's not to say that Seaforth isn't very good at what they do – they are.

Mitch Raymond and Tom Jordan didn't vary all that much from their formula, rocking out on the opening, uptempo "Talk About" and "Palm of Your Hand."

Here, like elsewhere during the upbeat concert, either Raymond or Jordan would take the lead with the other typically joining in on backing harmonies and later taking a stanza or two. Both are worthy vocalists with the harmonizing standing out (and making Dan + Shay a ready reference point).

Jordan also contributed guitar, often with a rock sound.

They toned it down, going more mid-tempo with the country lilt of "Anything She Says" with some good guitar work from Jordan. Seaforth wove in the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" into the middle of the song with the crowd helping out with gusto.

The pop country songs flowed competently, but Seaforth could not be accused of more than that. For a while anyway.

But about two-thirds of the way through, Seaforth hit their musical stride with a two-song acoustic set. Gone were the too loud drums in favor of the stripped down (still true even though Jordan remained electric), takes of "Taken Your Picture" and "Magic." On the latter, Thompson enlivened it by vocalizing a trumpet sound at his partner's behest.

"Good Beer" was an upbeat, rowdy kind of song with the repeating line "The good beer is a cold one." Not necessarily deep, but it went over well in concert with help from opener Dylan Brady.

Seaforth ended with a one-two punch of the ballad "Breakups," – perhaps the best song of the night with the emphasis on vocals - and encoring with the poppy, joyous sounding "Love That."

Jordan and Raymond were clearly and rightfully so in good spirits. Jordan said he was excited to be on the duo's first headlining tour ever of the U.S. (they were in Boston in December 2021 opening for Jordan Davis). With no real hits under their belt either, Seaforth also had to be buoyed by the crowd of maybe 250, who often sang along.

Now if Seaforth coud blaze a musical path that goes beyond the Dan + Shay territory...

Brady, a Long Island, N.Y. native, opened with a similar view of what country music sounds like in 2023. A very very chatty (he said at least twice to the crowd that he should stop yapping and get on with the music) personality, Brady performed solo acoustic.

Brady mixed his set between originals (the unreleased "Lose My Mind" and "How Are You?" both stood out) and covers. Being an unknown, Brady seemingly felt compelled to offer well-known covers – Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and Justin Bieber's "Baby" – to engage the crowd, which lustily sang along.

But going the easy route to singalongs isn't necessarily a winning formula in the long run. Brady should figure out who he is first.



©Country Standard Time • Jeffrey B. Remz, editor & publisher • countrystandardtime@gmail.com
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