Will Hoge

Thursday 13th July. Upstairs at the Garage. Will Hoge. New venue tonight as we’ve never been upstairs at the Garage. It’s a long narrow venue with a ceiling full of glitter balls, at least forty.

I was really forward to this gig as I’ve been a big fan of Will Hoge but have contrived to have never seen him live. Its solo acoustic tonight and I have blathered on about this being the purest form of a music, one man, one guitar on stage. In a year when I have seen some of the best male Americana acts around such as Andrew Combs, Brent Cobb and Cale Tyson I can now add Hoge to that list.

After falling out of love with song writing Hoge took some time out and has come back refreshed with a new album out soon. The new songs immediately felt familiar and this augers well for its release next month.

The ninety minutes fly by and the stories and jokes between songs worked well and he was immediately engaging with the crowd who seemed to watch in reverential silence unless they were singing along. A set taken from across his catalogue there were many great moments and highlights for me included ‘Middle of America’, ‘Growing up around here’ and ‘Even if it breaks your heart’.

If you want to see an artist at the top of his game who can keep and audience rapt with just a guitar and keyboard then Hoge is your man. He promises to be back with a band later in the year and I can’t wait for that. Great night out.

Keep on country rockin’ y’all

“Some dreams stay with you forever/ drag you around and lead you back to where you were/ some dreams keep on getting better/ gotta keep believing if you wanna know for sure” It’s like Will Hoge knew of his eminent success and predicted it to the world with his song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart.”
The Grammy nominated singer/songwriter arms himself with a guitar and takes the stage with a laidback confidence. Joining him onstage is his band (that will vary sometimes) that usually includes a bassist, a guitarist (who can also do backup vocals), drums and a key player. When you see him live, Will’s voice hits you hard, riddled with emotion, you can feel the emotion that he is emitting and you start to empathize with him. His voice is slightly raspy, and not exactly perfect but it is more pleasant than if it were to be perfect. When he takes a solo, you can see the passion, almost as if you were not really there and he was allowing you into intimate moments of his emotions. In between songs, as he and the band tune up their instruments, he is sure to use his Southern charm to speak humbly and thankfully for the audiences’ love and support.

I've been waiting YEARS to get to see Will Hoge, as my place of residence and then my schedule prevented me from having the opportunity. Last night at Tin Roof was my first time seeing him live. And he blew me away. Will's voice and guitar playing, while unbelievable on cd, are just incredible live; there truly aren't words to describe it. His stage presence is amazing and the way he gets a crowd into his show is just a joy to watch. It was so much fun! And I had the chance to meet him after the show and he was as sweet as he could be. Really a wonderful night all around, and I can't wait until the next show!

Awesome show! Will showed up without his band because of a tour bus breakdown, so he put on a great acoustic set. Super strong vocal and amazing song writing. I can't wait to see him with the full band someday.

Second time I've been to see Will Hoge in two years. Great performance by Will and he's band and lived up to performance he gave at the borderline in 2018. All in all a great night as Oslo a great venue.

I`d a wonderful evening. He was multi artist, crowd-pleasing, intimate gig, relaxed & super great. The first BUT not the last time i see him i hope. Hope he come back soon

I've seen Will twice and he puts on an awesome show. I liked him from the first time I heard him! He plays a Telly like no one else I've heard.