Within the first ten minutes of Bryce Vine stepping on the stage, it's clear that he's got a strong cardiovascular system. The 35-year-old artist is running from one side to the other, jumping up and down and transitioning one song into the next with no breaks. Fans are having to pivot their phones from the left to the right to keep their cameras on him, and their footage has to be a little blurry given the amount of dancing they're doing as well.
Tonight, Bryce is upgrading rooms since his last performance in Madison back in 2019. Instead of Majestic's 600 person capacity, he's in the beloved Sylvee that fits up to 2500--it's the biggest room on his tour. It's not quite a sold out show, although anyone in the packed pit could be fooled otherwise. The Interstate Tour is made up of 11 dates, 7 of which are in the US and are mostly college towns. Despite Madison's love of alternative and indie music, artists like Vine, Quinn XCII and Tai Verdes shine here because of our large student population who cling to the hopeful lyricism in this wave of genre-blending music.
Because he's used to smaller stage, Vine's stage design is simple, and he has only brought along a drummer and a DJ, who also pulls out a trumpet for a song or two. The rest of the stage is dedicated to him getting as close as possible to the fans, even jumping down to the barricade to give hugs to the front row. "This is my favorite place to be by the way," he says.
Bryce Vine's discography is rooted in pop, although it doesn't stay there. The singer-songwriter will finesse his way through a R&B chorus into a rap verse with a little bit of rock lingering in the instrumental. His features also tout a variety of styles, from rapper YG to alternative pop rock group, lovelytheband, and most recently with the band Train and country singer, Tenille Townes.
His openers, Chad Tepper and RMR share his genre-less approach. Chad Tepper could almost be a Post Malone lookalike, but his music leans toward pop punk. He plays his song, "I Wanna Be Your High" which has landed him on alternative radio. RMR, pronounced "rumor," performs in a black embroidered ski mask and leather gloves. Despite the nervy getup, he sounds like a pop artist live. His recorded music is mostly rap and R&B, but RMR doesn't feel pinned down to any genre, which he proves by pulling out a country song during his set.
In one of his few breaks throughout the night, Bryce briefly takes on politics. Like many of his peers, he keeps the conversation neutral but challenges the audience to think about our country in its current state. This introduces a song called, "American Dream," which centers around money and the irony of the American Dream. He also tells us the story behind, "Love Me Hate Me," which is apparently about a girl that he was dating who was also secretly cyberbullying him.
Vine has almost a decade of music to craft his setlist from. He only has one album, however, titled Carnival and released in 2019. Since then, he has pivoted to a more stream-friendly model of releasing frequent singles and EPs instead of full-length projects; just this year he has released three singles, an EP called Serotonin and a deluxe version of that EP. His earliest work is still some of his most famous, with his biggest tracks dating back to 2014 and 2019.
I'd guess the crowd is mainly college and high school students tonight. I do spot a kid, maybe 9 or 10 in the balcony seats, clutching his mom's hand and giddily singing along. It's a good sign for an artist like Bryce: even when his songs are suggesting that "The Kids Aren't Alright," the kids are still showing up and finding escapism for a few hours. For his encore, he sings "Drew Barrymore," which even non-Bryce fans might recognize as a house party staple. The song is a bit slower, but the crowd's energy is as high as ever singing, "I want this forever."
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