OneRepublic made a stop in Atlanta on Tuesday, August 19th at Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, as part of the Native tour, an expansive summer tour in support of the 2013 album of the same name. The band is hot off the success of the wildly popular single “Counting Stars,” which has been dominating radio stations this summer.
Christina Perri kicked things off, taking a seat at her piano and launching straight into her hit song “Jar of Hearts,” which had the crowd singing along. Perri performed songs from her latest album, Head or Heart, as well as her gorgeous love song, “A Thousand Years,” from the Twilight: Breaking Dawn Soundtrack.
Christina Perri
The fans were ready when OneRepublic took the stage, a white curtain separating the band from the audience. The members of the band could only be seen as silhouettes as they opened with “Light It Up,” from Native, which made for an interesting display. When the curtain finally fell near the end of the song, the crowd erupted in cheer as vocalist Ryan Tedder, dressed in all black and his signature hat, worked the crowd with a smile on his face and continued the set with “Secrets,” and “All The Right Moves,” both from the 2009 album Waking Up.
Tedder was a complete charmer throughout the set, keeping the crowd on their feet and dancing. It was impossible to keep your eyes off him as he performed, especially when he sat down at his piano for hit song “Apologize,” from the band’s 2007 debut album Dreaming Out Loud. The song was mashed up with a surprise cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” a song that really showed off Tedder’s incredible vocal range. Tedder continued the “acoustic” portion of the show with “Preacher,” a song written about his own grandfather.
The set livened up again with a rousing guitar medley from guitarist Zach Filkins and massive hit “Counting Stars.” Tedder jumped from the stage during the song, running all the way to the lawn to serenade the people there. He returned to the stage and the band kept the hits coming with “Feel Again” and “Good Life.” Tedder introduced the last song of the set, “I Lived,” telling fans that he wrote it for his son in the hopes that he would seize every opportunity that life handed him.
The crowd demanded an encore and the band returned to the stage for the foot-stomping new single “Love Runs Out,” followed by a heartfelt cover of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” A remixed version of “If I Lose Myself” closed out the night, with confetti pouring over the audience as Tedder encouraged them to sing along to the chorus, holding his microphone out to them. The song culminated with every member of the band playing a drum of some sort, filling the amphitheatre with incredible sound.
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