Secondhand Serenade vocalist/multi-instrumentalist John Vesely has a way of connecting with a crowd, and the intimate setting of the Boardwalk in Orangevale seemed like a second home to him. The crowd instantly began to sing along with him and he seemed thrilled to see such a warm welcome.
Despite a very long wait due to sound check difficulties, Vesely managed to kick off his set with a smile on his face as he played the chords to “Vulnerable,” followed by “Maybe.” Once again, the crowd began to sing every word along with him.
The third song played was a new one called “Price We Pay.” Vesely admitted, “I don’t know how to play it yet,” as he played a few notes on his keyboard and began to sing. He would often take pauses to let the crowd sing along with him for the chorus.
The fourth song was “Your Call,” which got screams from the crowd, while others sang along loudly. “Your Call” was followed by one of his older ballads, “Awake.”
Vesely later introduced another new song, titled “The Right Kind of Crazy,” and joked that he probably didn’t know how to play it yet either.
He then played the first song he ever wrote, “Broken,” and ended the song by singing the chorus of Fun.’s “We Are Young.”
Vesely took a break and called a fan onstage and asked her to call one of her friends. Sadly, the girl’s friend didn’t answer her phone. Vesely jokingly said, “Sorry, you lose,” as the girl got offstage.
He then covered Coldplay’s “Fix You,” which was followed by another cover song: Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero.” Throughout the entire song, he mocked Iglesias’ accent, which earned him laughs from the crowd.
Since the stage lacked a hallway for Vesely to leave, he asked the crowd to start asking him for an encore. After getting the crowd to shout, “Two more songs,” he introduced his single, “Shake It Off.”
The final song of the night was the much-anticipated “Fall For You.” It started with Vesely singing the first few lines of Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” and the chorus of “We Are Never Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift, which threw off his audience momentarily. He then ended the song with the crowd singing the chorus.
Overall, the show was a very touching performance that ended on a very nice note.