Concert Review: Jake Minch on the "It's So Fun" Tour

As the lights of the legendary Troubadour came down on Thursday, March 20th, a buzzing crowd of 500 excited individuals welcomed Jake Minch to the stage. The indie singer-songwriter, who sports an impressive track record of opening for artists including Lizzy McAlpine and Jeremy Zucker, has been on tour for the past two months supporting Grace Enger's first ever US headline tour. The second to last stop on the 19-show run of the "It's So Fun" Tour was nothing short of show-stopping, thanks to Minch's captivating opening set.

Cheers echoed throughout the room as Minch stepped out onto the stage, holding nothing but a guitar and his signature hand-written setlist in bright pink lettering. A small but mighty acoustic set consisting of just his voice and trusty guitar, Minch opened the show with "strip mall." The lyrics in this heartbreaking song speak for themselves, with lines such as "I think that the world's gonna end" and, "You were the best thing that I've ever had." 

Minch quickly transitioned into the next song titled "jessie." An ode to an old friend, he led into the tune with the explanation that this song was written about a friend's struggles that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else but him. Through gut-wrenching words, Minch (though somewhat contradictory) erupted into a smile as fans all throughout the crowd held up hearts adorned with a monkey as part of a beautiful fan project. "jessie" was clearly well received by the sounds of the audience's whooping and ferocious applause as the last notes of the guitar rang out. 

From there, Minch delightfully treated the audience to a series of three unreleased tracks. "For Leaving" was guaranteed to not leave a dry eye in sight, and, after a Tik Tok snippet of his latest song titled "Fingers and Clothes" garnered online support, it was evident that the full version’s performance built high anticipation for its eventual release. He then introduced the last of the three unreleased songs, “Changed Things” as a touching song about having a younger sister.

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His most streamed song at over 3.1 million streams for a reason, it was cathartic to audibly hear the voice of the crowd singing along to Minch's "handgun." His strikingly powerful lyricism is explicitly clear in lines such as 

"Who gives a kid a handgun?
Who gives a kid to a mom who doesn't want one?" 

As my personal favorite song in his discography, it was incredible to hear both his stunning vocals in person and the overwhelmingly positive reception of the song by everyone around me. 

The singer ended his opening set with the strongest display of his vocals in "whose you are," a song about fighting in a relationship that makes you feel like you're in it alone. As Minch closed the beautiful acoustic set, the Troubadour was filled with smiling faces from the floor to the balcony and cheers so loud that they hurt my ears.

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The palpable increase in energy throughout the venue following Minch's compelling opening set was sure to turn attendees from casual listeners to true fans. Enger's headline set even included a guest appearance from Jake Minch as he joined her acoustic section to feature on “Good Stuff.” Through and through, Minch's unparalleled storytelling ability electrified the Troubadour - I'd strongly encourage you to catch a set of his as soon as you can!

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