Evan Honer’s performance at the Turner Hall Ballroom March 21 was nothing short of emotional storytelling and backflips.
Honer’s unique sound blends together folk, indie, Americana and alternative pop music. He became famous for his rendition of Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Giant,” released in 2022, which now has over 120 million streams on Spotify.
This is his third time headlining a tour but his first time coming to Milwaukee. He told the crowd that one of the first things he did was, surprisingly, go to Sky Zone.
However, it certainly has not been all fun and games for Honer. He has successfully released two albums in two years as an independent artist.
A third album is currently in development, but no release date has been set yet; however, on March 21 he released his new song “Place I Hate” — safe to assume it will be a part of his upcoming album.
Opener: Timmy Skelly
Timmy Skelly made his debut touring as the opening act for Evan Honer. However, some might remember this Sandwich, Illinois native from his appearance on Season 19 of “American Idol” where he auditioned with his mom, Jacquelin.
Wearing patchwork overalls and a Coors Light cap, he was ready to give the fans a taste of alternative Midwestern music. The second song he played called “Soul on Fire” had people bopping their head to the folk country beat.
Then, he shared how he has waited seven years to finally go on tour and how his song “Dear Depression” was inspired by this period of waiting. The rawness of his tenor voice brings you back to a soulful type of country and blues mix.
His band added to this feel as well by singing along with him. Their smiles, hair flips and crowd interactions were what really told the crowd to get excited.
Not to mention that Skelly also played an electric guitar through his sister’s karaoke machine. For those that did not get to see him this time around, he will be playing at Summerfest this year.
Evan Honer
At 9 p.m., Evan Honer’s entrance was filled with his infectious energy. He cartwheeled and backflipped onto center stage with ease as an Irish jig played in the background.
The first song he played was “Everything I Wanted.” The catchiness of his lyrics mixed with the smoothness of the piano being played got people clapping along in excitement along with his next song “Nowhere Fast.”
After, he joked, “I got all my fun songs out of the way; now it’s just the depressing ones.” While funny, it was true.
The rest of his set was rooted in a lot more personal matters. Honer opened up to the audience by sharing that his brother is his favorite human being and who unfortunately was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which is a combination of bipolar and schizophrenia symptoms.
“I think the worst pain is the feeling of being misunderstood” he said when introducing his song called “Brother.” The sad lyrics tugged at the heartstrings of his fans in attendance. He took the crowd on a beautiful rollercoaster of emotions, opening up not only about his brother but also about his struggles with heartbreak and losing yourself in new places.
However, one person was missing from his band:, the violinist. People in the crowd were screaming “Where’s the violinist?” To which he replied, “She’s out doing her own thing.”
Due to not having a female vocalist to help out with some of the songs, he pulled female audience members to fill in. The crowd did not seem to mind because of how beautifully the girls’ voices paired with Honer’s on stage.
Two covers were also included in his setlist. These songs were Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Giant” and The Cranberries’ “Linger.” Both of which proved to be crowd favorites judging by the loudness of people singing the songs back at Honer.
When he came back out for the encore he took song suggestions. Loud screams coming from the crowd shouting “Mr. Meyers” made it easy for him to decide on what to play next. It was a bittersweet ending to an overall good first performance in Milwaukee for Evan Honer.
Fans, don’t worry, the fun is not over! He will be joining Vance Joy on a couple of his tour dates this fall.
This story was written by Alison McMillan. She can be reached at alison.mcmillan@marquette.edu.
