Tennis

I had been looking forward to seeing Tennis for quite some time. Naturally, my expectations were high. The whole “surf-pop” sound has gained a lot of popularity lately, and Tennis is certainly one of the genre’s pioneers. I mean, the entire first album is based on Alaina and Patrick’s experience spending seven months at sea!

Expectations aside, they put on a really great show. The venue, Crescent Ballroom, has quickly become one of the most premier and iconic places to see a concert in Phoenix. Modest in size with roughly 500 capacity, the lighting and sound production, intimate environment, and central downtown location all serve to provide a wonderful live music experience. It didn’t seem like the event had sold out, as there was a decent amount of room to move about the ballroom. That suited me just fine. While I don’t dance a tremendous amount at live shows, you can bet that when “My Better Self” began playing, I was swinging my hips a bit.

One thing that really surprised me about the band was lead-vocalist, Alaina Moore’s, strikingly diminutive stature. A woman of that size singing with such power and conviction is truly a sight to behold. Admittedly, I am a sucker for powerful female singer-songwriters. Regardless, it was nothing short of inspirational.

Meanwhile, her husband and guitarist, Patrick Riley, led the songs’ melodies—his long blonde hair, characteristically unkempt, waving back and forth with the cadence of the particular song. There were only two other members to complete the outfit. The drummer was solid. As a percussionist myself, I tend to be very critical of live drummers, and I don’t recall anything worth condemning—though I may have been slightly distracted by the mesmerizing performance of Alaina. The last member to round out the four-piece floated around filling in for whatever component was needed at the time; were it bass-guitar, auxiliary percussion, etc.

Despite being comprised of only four members, the band was able to produce a truly full sound. The songs were also easily identifiable as the same shiny, packaged versions we were all familiar with. The set flowed nicely and included many songs off their latest release, Ritual In Repeat, such as: “Never Work for Free,” “I’m Callin’” and “Timothy.” The band was wise in their approach, though, as to not exclude fan-favorites like, “Origins” and “It All Feels the Same.”

They closed out the set with my personal favorite, “My Better Self.” The swinging drumbeat came crashing in, followed by the familiar sustained piano, and it was in that exact moment that the entire crowd came to life with excitement. What a wonderful way to end the show!

I know what you’re thinking. “But what about Marathon?”

Not moments after Tennis walked off-stage, the audience roared in demand. And the band was quick to oblige their requests.Only Alaina and Patrick returned, at first, to perform a stripped-down, acoustic version of “Bad Girls.” They said they wanted to play it as it had been written. It was a beautifully genuine rendition, and one of my favorite moments from the entire performance. Immediately following that, the remainder of the band took up their instruments. You could feel a sense of completion sweep across the audience as soon as the words, “Coconut Grove…” came through the PA speakers.

Overall, it was a fully satisfying experience.

To fully understand The Roots you must see them perform live. After you witness their brand of fully instrumental live hip-hop this enigmatic group of musicians begins to make sense.
To classify The Roots as simply a hip-hop act is to do them a disservice. Yes they are hip-hop (Black Thought makes sure of that) but they are also so many other things. Their music has grown to incorporate everything from cool jazz and socially conscious spoken word to classical and the downright experimental. Long before The Roots were the platinum selling, Grammy awarded house band for the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, they were continually on the road bringing it to the people “live from the 215." For over twenty years the Roots toured the globe over and back again, slowly growing a loyal and diverse fan base. ?uestLove’s drumming is the backbone of every performance. He leads the band from behind his drum kit and every horn, guitar, and tuba falls into their groove. They will pull songs from their entire catalog of ten plus albums. Classics like "You Got Me" and "The Seed 2.0" have a new twist every performance, likening them to a Jazz band with their improvisation. One night they might place a 15 minute cover of Bob Dylan’s "Master’s of War" and the next show they will do an interpretation of a Bill Withers war protest song. They are constantly evolving and pushing themselves in new directions.
In this way, they are transcendent of all classification. The only constant thing about The Roots is that every night will be a completely unique set of music, never to be performed exactly that way again.

Molly Burch opened for Tennis and she was a little sweetheart so interactive with the crowd, I swear she pointed at me when she was singing and her voice was so beautiful I was on the verge of crying. Then Tennis came on I was intimidated at first by the way they walked on the stage looking like these big celebrities and they busted into song I was in Awee that Alainas voice was just as clear and light and magical like on Spotify. After that song they spoke with us fans and I felt like I knew them and they played nothing but the fucking hits. Every song was a banger I wouldn’t stop singing and dancing to every song they played. The crowd/audience showed so much love and I could tell they appreciated and loved us as well they did an encore and performed songs I didn’t know but I easily fell in love with and I caught on and started singing too. I didn’t expect to love them even more after the show, I didn’t think it was possible. What a great show, I hope to hear more from them and see them again soon!

alaina & patrick are amazing musicians. they play incredible & catchy MOR tunes.

i was visiting from new zealand to california when i found out the last date of the Solo in Stereo 2018 tour which will be in their home town Denver CO, the Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Denver.

i was eagerly waiting for the couple to come out in the merchandise table & meet the fans but they did not.
what a disappointment ☹️

any way, my effort of travelling from calif to denver was worth the time because of the good music they share with us fans

What a fantastic show. Alaina's voice is even more beautiful live and she has amazing chemistry with Patrick. You can clearly tell that they're soulmates when they are performing together.They played lots from their new album, as well as fan favorites from Ritual in Repeat. An unexpected surprise was Marathon from Cape Dory!

Something that was unexplainably weird was when Alaina crouched over on the stage to hold hands with a really zealous fan, he basically repeatedly kept on slapping her hands to the beat. Not cool, dude.

Really great show Aliana and Patrick were great together they did a version of Bad Girls with just them, and it was beautiful and amazing take on the song. The set was great with the different lighting for each song. I got some solid pictures during the show. Maybe, take pictures with fans after the show it'd be greatly apprecaited, although I don't know if there was a nice spot at the Soul Kitchen to do so. Can't wait to see them again hopefully soon if you have the chance to see them I highly recommend it.

Great show, they performed well. They made the crowd hype up in a mellow cool way by playing songs from all their albums & played some new ones as well. They have a following for sure. Talked to the crowd, sharing cool stories & even gave a motivation speech about how success shouldn’t be defined & limited as how society & social media portrays it. I was happy to be there & to experience a new vibe since I am quite new to live music experiences.

Great show! Was their last show of a 2 month tour and all the vibes were in the room. They were trading new songs with oldies for the first half of the show, but working in the classics: I'm Calling, Needle and a Knife, Origins, My Better Self...

At one point they played a new song that Alaina wrote Patrick for their anniversary. The ladies were excited about this one :)

Great live band - always great to see them.

They were okay--Tennis is never a live show to write home about (I went for Overcoats), but their sound was super screwed up at Trees. You couldn't even hear the music over all the bass. The levels were horrendously off. And they're pretty boring live anyway, so if the music is off...well, we left after the first three songs. Overcoats was outstanding, though! :)

They were amazing!! They needed to do a better mic check though because for over half the show we couldn't hear the vocalist at all. Other than that they were charismatic and engaging. She talked to the audience enough to make us feel connected and immersed and her stage presence was almost enough to forget about the shotty mics.