Shawn James Flips Tannahill’s Music Hall on its Head

4 minutes ago

It was a warm and rainy Autumn Saturday night in the stockyards of Fort Worth, Texas as fans made their way to Tannahill’s Music Hall to experience an incredible night of music by Shawn James. As you worked your way through the busy stockyard area dodging traffic, people and water puddles fans were making their way to the venue to get there as doors open so they could get inside, grab some merch and claim their spot up against the barricade to get the best spot for the night to experience what is going to be a roller coaster of emotions once Shawn James and his band take the stage.

Once inside the Music Hall fans were staking their claim to spots along the barricade in front of the stage front and center so they can get the best view of the show tonight. As the time grew closer to the opener coming on more people were piling into the pit area and stacking up behind each other. The lights went down and the house music faded as Gravedancer stepped up to the microphone and welcomed the fans to the show. He asked whether he should call them Dallas or Fort Worth and the crowd answered with a resounding “Fort Worth”, he kind of stepped back and laughed and said okay I “got it” welcome to the show Fort Worth and introduced himself before going into his first song. A few songs into his set he asked Shawn’s fiddle/violin player Sage to join him on the stage for a song. Everyone was looking around when suddenly Sage appeared army crawling out from under the drum riser in the middle of the stage and everyone erupted in laughter before he jumped up, grabbed his violin and let out a loud “Yee haw”. They went into the next song and had a great time performing that song together. Gravedancer continued working through his set, stopping several times between songs to explain them and tell stories to the fans, capturing their whole attention throughout his set. He played his final song of the night and thanked the fans as he exited the stage.

During a short break the crew put the final touches on setting up the stage for Shawn James and his band. During this short down time the fans took that opportunity to hit the restrooms and take a quick break before Shawn James and his band took to the stage. As everyone was settling back into their spots in the pit the lights went down and one by one the band took the stage to get set. Shawn James came in from the side raising a drink to the fans to welcome them and everyone screamed. Shawn stepped up to the microphone, welcomed the crowd and started picking the opening to The Curse of the Fold to kick off the night. Immediately the fans were moving and singing every word along with him as the band performed. Once they finished up the opening song they quickly jumped into one of my favorite songs titled Burn the Witch , as soon as they struck the opening chords the fans erupted letting out a deafening yell. Once they finished their first few songs Shawn started talking with the crowd, he welcomed everyone to the show and let them know that they were in for a very entertaining and magical night of music. Being at a Shawn James show is always fun and exhilarating as he is going to take you on a wide range of emotions as he works his way through his extensive song catalog. Shawn takes the time to tell you the stories, meaning, and scenarios behind the songs that he is performing for you. You are going to be going through some low lows and high-highs with him as he weaves back and forth through his years of song writing and growth as an artist. One song that will really hit you is titled Through the Valley which was performed acoustically tonight. He also had Gravedancer come back out to sing a song he had written titled The Shadow which Shawn put on his 2012 Shadows album. Once he wrapped up some acoustic songs and giving the band a break, they joined him back on the stage to continue the onslaught to your emotions they had planned out for the night. After taking you through some of the peaks and valleys of his songs he decided to crank it up a notch and end the night on a high and heavy note with some of the heavier songs they play. He wrapped up his set with Haunted and Devil’s Daughter leaving the crowd wanting more as they were chanting and yelling for an encore as they walked off the stage. He did not leave them wanting for long as they walked back on the stage and he finished with an incredible two-song encore. He started off his encore with Let Me Go and finished with an older song called Hunger off his Shawn James and The Shapeshifters album The Bear. He said he almost never plays this song live on tour, but he was feeling it tonight and Fort Worth was feeding off his energy and giving it right back to them. They set the stage on fire with this song and left it all out there for the fans tonight.

Tonight was such an incredible night to get to witness and experience a Shawn James show. There were so many people in attendance who had never had the chance to see him live. All over the place people were talking about how amazing he was and what an incredible show they put on for the crowd here tonight. I know that he gained many new fans from the performance tonight and many fans who had seen him before were excited to see him again. They knew what a ride it would be watching them perform and love everything that is a Shawn James show. I have seen him several times now and every time I see him perform it gets better and better. I am already looking forward to seeing him play live again and looking for a show near me to get another chance to experience it. If you have never seen them before and they are coming to your town I recommend you go check them out and see what it is all about, I know you will be hooked from there.