Evan Honer Turns a Sold-Out Royale Into the Best Saint Patrick's Day Party in Boston
Boston on Saint Patrick's Day weekend operates on its own rules. The parade was Sunday. Saturday night at The Royale, Evan Honer got the party started early, and the sold-out crowd was more than ready.
Honer opened with a stage flip before his first note landed, which told you everything you needed to know about the energy he was bringing. The crowd, deep into the holiday spirit already, matched him from the jump. When the opening notes of “Shipping Up to Boston" kicked in as the intro to the first song, the room lost its mind. There may not be a more appropriate song to open a sold-out Boston show on Saint Patrick's Day weekend, and Honer knew exactly what he was doing.
What followed was a 25-song set that covered a lot of ground. Honer moved through originals like “Lose A Friend", “Place I Hate", and “Scared To Love Again". A Tyler Childers cover of “Jersey Giant" found its way into the mix, and at one point the band gathered around an old school two-way radio mic for a few numbers, an intimate touch that would have landed even better if the pretty inebriated crowd had been willing to quiet down enough for it. Saint Patrick's Day weekend in Boston being what it is, that was always going to be a tall order.
The emotional center of the night came when Honer stepped to the mic alone for “Brother", a song about his brother Aaron, who lives with schizoaffective disorder. The room, moments earlier buzzing with holiday energy, settled into something closer to stillness. It was a sobering few minutes in the best possible sense, a reminder that underneath the party there was a genuine artist with something to say.
Then Leroy showed up. Honer brought his dog out onstage for a cover of Jim Croce's “Bad Bad Leroy Brown", the dog decked out in noise-canceling headphones, the two of them dancing through the number together. It drew the biggest reaction of the night, which is saying something given the room's energy level throughout. A Fall Out Boy cover of “Sugar, We're Goin Down" during the encores kept the momentum rolling before Honer closed the night on “IDK Shit About Cars", his biggest hit, as funny and infectious as advertised, and exactly the right song to send a packed, rowdy Boston room home happy.
Nicholas Jamerson opened the evening, just him and a guitarist, and did a solid job warming up a crowd that was already primed for a good time.
Twenty-five songs on a Saturday night in Boston, a dog in noise-canceling headphones, and a closer that doubles as a punchline. Evan Honer made the most of Saint Patrick's Day weekend.
Evan Honer SETLIST:
Nowhere Fast
Lose A Friend
Place I Hate
Waiting Room
Not There Yet
Scared To Love Again
My Expense
Wake up, Come Down
Mr. Meyers
Brother
Me, Without You
Take Me As I Come
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Jim Croce cover)
Better Off Lonely
Foolin' Ourselves
Too Far Gone
Jersey Giant (Tyler Childers cover)
Maybe For Once
Wonder
Encore:
The Late Show
Sugar, We're Goin Down (Fall Out Boy cover)
IDK Shit About Cars
EVAN HONER | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE
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