Steinza
Steinza, real name Zach, is an artist from Virginia that writes heart-wrenching indie music that tugged on the heartstrings of the Pittsburgh crowd at the Roxian Tuesday night. Steinza is currently on a national tour with Saint Motel taking him out of his base in Nashville. He said it was his first time in Pittsburgh and the crowd gave him a warm welcome. I felt connected to his music, since a lot of it was related to love and loss in your 20’s. Steinza made sure to engage with the crowd as he tuned his guitar. It was just him with one guitar on the stage, which made it more difficult to switch quickly from song to song given the different tunings required for his music. In between, Steinza told stories and gave background into his music. Even when he took a sip of water, he asked the crowd to call it out - which they did promptly. His set was quieter than I would expect from an opener to Saint Motel, but enjoyable nonetheless!
Saint Motel
Saint Motel, an award-winning (pun intended) band from Los Angeles, is taking on their Award Show Tour throughout April with one extra date in June. This was a band that put on a performance instead of just playing a concert. There was a QR code at the beginning of the show where people could scan and vote. Fans were able to vote on what song they wanted to hear that night. During the first vote, my favorite song, “Butch,” was chosen and played! Every song that was nominated that they did was incredibly engaging and enjoyable. Saint Motel’s six piece band, including a trumpet and saxophone, dominated the Roxian Theater. Frontman, AJ Jackson, made sure to engage with the audience by traversing the stage and even made his way to the balcony on the second floor!
Every part of their performance was brilliantly executed to emulate an award show. From the lights on the stage, to the outfits, to the string versions of their songs that subtly played before they even came on. Their "award show" picture was painted with their songs being the nominees. However cool this was, it was a blessing and a curse due to them putting two or three amazing bangers up against each other. Though this was not resolved, it was soothed by the great setlist outside of their nominated songs. They even had a medley of all of their slow songs like “Ace In the Hole,” “Save Me,” and more!
One of my favorite parts of the show was when they interacted with the fans. For one of the awards, they asked for audience participation as they brought two fans on stage that had shirts on that said the “Van Horn Sisters.” This was met with one of the nominees being Saint Motel’s song “Sisters.” Ironically, this was the winner and could not have been timed better. Another amazing part of the show was when Jackson asked the crowd how many Saint Motel shows they had been to. Turns out three people in the crowd had been to seven (7!) shows! They brought the one girl on stage to receive a fan award, which Jackson said they would have to split (picture below).
Throughout the entire concert, the crowd and I were engaged and excited by the energy the band brought. The trumpet and sax absolutely carried every song; however, there was not a weak link within their performers. Every musician brought the heat and thoroughly enjoyed performing the Awards Show. I walked out of the Roxian buzzing with excitement and would recommend seeing Saint Motel to any one who needs some good horns in their life.
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