John Harvie is out on the Say it to My Face Tour headlined by Meet Me at the Alter. John is originally from Philly so the show at the TLA on South Street was a coming home gig. He was wearing his Harvie Philadelphia Eagles jersey and immediately expressed his dismay for being a fan when he hit the stage.
John's first song was one of his recent singles Roses. I am not going to lie that the chorus has been stuck in my head going on 18 hours now. Prior to the show John wrote on X (twitter) that he was fighting sickness and was trying to save his voice. Despite not feeling well he nailed the song and amped up the crowd. To be honest the extra rasp on his vocals really added something to all of the songs in his set. During John's second song A Little Bit Longer I heard the crowd starting to sing and the person behind me on the rail was drumming along. It was nice to see John playing guitar on these as well, the first time I saw him, he had a full band and just sung. This time around John only brought a drummer with him on tour, Matt Donnelly, and oddly enough I actually know someone in his family. He was charismatic and clearly had fun.
John Harvie played 7 songs over 30 minutes also including Beauty in the Bad Things, Figure 8 and Bleach (On the Rocks). The song choices showcased his vocal range and dynamic writing style. He played to a packed house in his hometown and definitely heated up Philly on a cold January night. There are a bunch more dates on this tour to check him and the other bands out.
Nice! Getting excited to see John Harvie in NYC