Tonight marks the first visit that Canadian-American artist grandson (also known as Jordan Benjamin) has made to Manchester as he takes to the stage at Manchester Academy 2 as part of his ‘I Love You, I’m Trying’ tour, with this tour celebrating his recent album which was released back in May.
Before taking to the stage, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ blares through the speakers with fans waiting in anticipation for Grandson to come on stage. The singer comes to stage and sits on a park bench under a streetlamp with a street sign saying, ‘I Love You, I’m Trying’ before playing the opening track from his new album ‘Two Along Their Way’.
Taking a moment to ask the crowd “if that’s the best they’ve got”, he encourages the crowd to become more active and start jumping before he himself proceeds to jump off a box as he launches into the next track. Throughout ‘Something to Hide’ is when grandson takes it up a notch, moving non-stop and giving it his all on stage, while encouraging the crowd to clap and move as much as possible.
Jordan is super smooth as he engages with the crowd, effortlessly conversing between tracks whether it’s asking how many grandson shows they have been to before, or a simple shout of ‘Fuck 2020!’ as he rails against the covid pandemic forcing a postponement of a tour planned a few years back.
‘Heather’ is dedicated to the fans who are no longer here as Jordan hops off stage to immerse himself in the crowd and ‘Blood//Water’ is the perfect finale, notching up the intensity levels to the max and ensuring everyone is jumping along with the high energy chorus, squeezing out every last drop of stamina they have and leaving it all out on the floor for the final track of the night.
