Jacob Collier Concert Review: Collier Creates a Home at MGM

On April 24, Jacob Collier and his band wowed the audience with their intricate vocals, multi-instrumental talent, and contagious energy at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. During the show, which marked the fifth stop on his world tour for “Djesse Vol. 4,” the London-born singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer created an immersive musical experience, showing the crowd everything that music has the potential to be.

Kimbra, the New Zealand singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner best known for her feature on Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” opened for Collier as a solo R&B and pop act.

Collier came out to the stage alone to massive cheers from the audience, opening up with “100,000 Voices,” which features audience members from his past tours. Throughout the first part of his set, he continually built momentum. Whether running across the stage, jumping with his electric guitar, or playing piano with the “J” LED light in the background creating a silhouette of his characteristic spiky hair, his body language conveyed his enthusiasm.

In “Little Blue,” the unexpected jazz notes in Collier’s solo acoustic guitar and his close vocal harmonies with Erin Bentlage helped to convey the tender emotion of the song. After the pair sang a final chorus, Collier got the crowd to sing the final word “home,” making the concert venue everyone’s home for the night.

In Collier’s popular song “Time Alone With You,” his three backup vocalists Erin Bentlage, Lindsey Lomis, and Alita Moses performed intricate vocal runs in harmony as they moved through the rapid chord progressions. Collier made his voice a staccato bass line as he ran across the stage in excitement and sang about “the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world.”

The opening section of the night’s set showed the range of emotions and musical styles which Collier’s music creates and the power of his band, particularly the backup vocalists. With over 100 instruments on stage and a three-tiered set draped in leaves, Collier’s set allowed him to create a range of music.

With over 100 instruments on stage and a three-tiered set draped in leaves, Collier’s set allowed him to create a range of music. By Courtesy of Hannah M. Wilkoff

Under a single spotlight, Collier did a solo acoustic rendition of “The Sun Is In Your Eyes.” After a long and calming classical guitar intro, he played around with silence in between his lines and the riffs he sang at the end of them. With just his voice and his guitar, the musical prodigy showed off his genius, which he continued in his cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” where he used his vocal harmonizer to make his keyboard sound as if the chords were a choir. Collier didn’t take himself too seriously, emitting quiet “yeah”s at the end of some lines and playing around with the volume.

Moses, who was a star throughout the night, came in to support on vocals as the band returned for “In Too Deep” and the disco ball was illuminated for the first time in the show, sending light out across the venue. In “Mi Corazon,” Collier showed off his multi-instrumental talent as he played on a second drum set in a duet with his drummer, then switched back to the Steinway for an extended piano solo.

Taking a break to talk to the audience, Collier shared how much collaboration means to him in his writing. Most of the songs from the night’s set feature other artists in their studio recordings, such as Brandi Carlile, Lizzy McAlpine, and Shawn Mendes. Collier shared how his journey with collaboration taught him to embrace uncertainty and realize how much he does not know, a powerful reminder from a man who knows so much about everything music-related.

After “Witness Me,” Collier guided different sections of the audience to sing different notes to create their own audience choir. Ending with a standing ovation, Collier created the magical atmosphere that makes his shows so famous. His mother, Suzie Collier, came out on violin to accompany a cover of The Beatles’ “Till There Was You,” and the emotional string melody and overlapping piano arpeggios ended with another standing ovation.

“All I Need” and “Over You” were a great upbeat end to the first part of the set. Kimbra came back out in the first encore to do a combo of “Box of Stars Pt. 1/In My Bones/Sleeping on My Dreams” with the band, where the disco ball illuminated the stage, making the concert feel like a party — there were even inflatable tube men on the sides of the stage.

Coming back out alone for a second encore, Collier’s strong vocals in his cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and his solo rendition of “Moon River” on piano finished off the concert in an intimate way.

Collier ended the night by making a heart with his hands to the crowd, leaving the stage having stunned with his musical talent but also with his ability to make a concert hall feel like a close community.

—Staff writer Hannah M. Wilkoff can be reached at hannah.wilkoff@thecrimson.com.