Christian French The Complex 9/16/21
Reviewed by Jaden Magleby
Sarah Barrios
The moment Sarah Barrios walked out she commanded the stage at the Complex in Salt Lake City. Not only with her pink megaphone but also her amazing voice. Sarah was able to sing softer ballads in a soft and forgiving tone. But also rocking out with the audience singing pop/punk songs. The energy was at a level that I think a lot of people have not seen for a long time. Utah was one of the first shows on tour and Sarah said that Utah had an energy that she had never seen before in all of her years of doing music.
After watching Sarah perform live, her songs have now joined the ranks of my most listened to playlists! Sarah electrified the audience, and it was visible from the collective jumping up and down of the audience! It’s been a long 18 months without live performances and I was ALL FOR IT! Sarah rocked her own songs like her newest single, ‘IH8EVERY1’ as well as ‘Year 3000’ by the Jonas Brothers. Then she pulled on everyone’s heartstrings with her song ‘Pretty in Pink’. Sarah put the fun back into live performances and I will personally be watching for any upcoming shows of hers in the future!
Christian French
If you have not heard of Christian French then stop what you are doing, drop everything and GO LISTEN TO HIM! Christian has been one of my favorite artists for years now. Ever since his song ‘Dying Alone’ came out in 2017 I knew that his career in music was only going to keep getting bigger. The way he is able to connect with his fans not only in the highest of highs but also the lowest of lows.
We often forget that musicians and celebrities even though their life looks very glamorous and exciting they too go through hardships and have their own struggles just like everyone else. I think a time where a lot of us realized that was during the pandemic. Many people went through a lot of not only physical sicknesses but also mental illnesses.
Christian brought this up on stage how the last year and a half has been one of the hardest ever, but how he has also grown from it and written new music in that time that he thinks is going to be the greatest he has ever done. And I cannot disagree.
He decided to give Salt lake a taste of 2 of his newest unreleased songs that hopefully will be coming out soon. He also played his newer songs like ‘Avalanche’ and even older ones like ‘Dying alone’ which is one of my personal favorites.
I was able to talk to some of Christian’s fans asking them what their favorite song of the night was. One said “ I absolutely loved when he played ‘Crowded Room’. “ another saying “ ‘Bright side of the moon’ was mine because it was one of my first songs I found by Christian French, and when I found it I was going through a really rough breakup. It helped me understand that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel!”
I have to say I have never seen anyone more passionate performing than Christian. He put everything into his performance that night. Even his Raisin Bran. Throwing a bag full of it into the crowd at the end of the show. And you know the crowd loved it, singing every single word to the songs he played to doing the worm in open places of the venue. Christian still has so much more room to grow and I cannot wait to see where his music career goes.