William Beckett is currently out on the road touring with The Summer Set and Hudson Thames on the Made For You Tour. The tour stopped into Fort Lauderdale at the Culture Room on October 12th.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into that club was that William Beckett had gotten someone that looked just like his twin to do his merch. Oh no, wait, that is William Beckett being a class act and hanging out with his fans chatting before the show even started. Right away I knew much hadn't changed on Beckett's front as he was clearly still as dedicated to his fans as he was in The Academy Is...
Beckett took the stage solo and started off the set with a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Games" (shout out to me, Beckett, and five other people in the crowd that were old enough to sing along), and while it appeared to be a majority of the crowd's first time ever hearing the song, they were no less enraptured by his overwhelming stage presence.
Following the cover, Beckett decided his entrance for the night hadn't been very grand, so he left the stage to return with a Harry Potter tune (this Slytherin wasn't too surprised to learn that he is apparently a Ravenclaw) and the crowd going wild for him. Beckett makes easy conversation with the crowd throughout his set; he cracks jokes, tells stories, and sets up the vibe for his next song- "It's 'Dear Life' as in addressing life, not as in *antler hands* 'Deer Life.'" Opener Hudson Thames joined him out on stage for a beautiful duet of "Just You Wait" and the combination of the two artists was a powerful performance of acoustic melodies. The entire set was mellow and joyful, even when dealing with harder life issues in his songs, Beckett presents them in a way that leaves you with a feeling of hopefulness.
William Beckett was the ultimate frontman in the emo band days of TAI..., he was kind to his fans, put on a killer show, and always was a blast to watch. Nowadays his romanticized solo act is just as strong as he was in the early 2000's. Beckett is dedicated to putting on the best performance he can, while interacting with his fans as if they were just a room of old friends getting back together.
Setlist:
1. Wicked Game(Chris Isaak cover
2. Re-Introduction
3. Oh, Love!
4. Cracks in the Ceiling
5. By Your Side
6. Dear Life
7. Just You Wait (feat. Hudson Thames)
8. Great Night
9. Benny & Joon
