It seems the traffic has let up and people are running into the venue just in time to catch the next 106.1 KMEL Holiday House of Soul act.
SiR almost didn't pursue music as a profession and watching him on stage tonight makes the shock of that fact hit even harder. As he begins his set by breezing through tracks 2 through 5 off his latest album Chasing Summers, it's so obvious that SiR is a natural performer. His charismatic persona onstage is a slight contrast from his down-to-earth personality. He feeds off the crowd, who have proved themselves to be super fans. They scream the words to "Something New" and "Something Foreign," two deep cuts off his 2018 album November, and "Ooh Nah Nah (ft Masego)" from his 2017 EP Her Too.
SiR takes it back to his most recent album and says the next song he is about to sing, "The Recipe," is one of his favorite songs and shares with the room that he wrote it with one of his brothers. SiR grew up in a musical family and pushed back at the concept of following in the footsteps of his mother (gospel singer Jackie Gouhce) and uncle (Grammy award winning bassist Andrew Gouche). Luckily, the success of his brothers, Daniel and Davion Farris, encouraged him to buckle down and get to work on his own music. It's clear family is important to the singer, because it's during this co-written track that we hear SiR belt with total abandon.
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Letting the crowd continue to cheer him on, SiR is busy scheming something special for the end of his set. "I've never done this before. I have four minutes left, but I have two songs to sing." Instead of singing both and going over his scheduled time, he puts the pressure on the crowd. He assigns the left side of the room the song "Hair Down (ft Kendrick Lamar)" and the right side gets "D'Evils."
In a decision that further validates their status as SiR die hards, "D'Evils" wins in a landslide despite "Hair Down" being his most popular song. He was probably going to be pleased with whatever song they chose, but together SiR and his adoring fans sing and dance the hardest they have all night.