In SF, Julie Byrne makes it feel like summer in April

Julie Byrne with Meernaa, Lila Blue //
Swedish American Hall – San Francisco
April 16th, 2017 //

Despite it occurring on Easter, indie-folk singer-songwriter Julie Byrne’s headlining show at the Swedish American Hall last Sunday received a strong showing. Due to the venue’s warm porch lights, an intimate stage and a close crowd of sitting individuals, it felt like a beautiful summer night in April.

Lila Blue opened the show with her sweet and strong vocals. She backed them up well with some consistent guitar tracks and even broke out the ukulele, too. Audience members were thoroughly entertained with her performance as almost not a sound was heard besides Lila herself and the flood of clapping in between.

Lila Blue

Meernaa, an Oakland power quartet, were next up and made everyone feel comfortable by keeping an already intimate night even closer with plenty of jokes and a few conversations with the crowd. It’s always nice when an artist or band can not only engage with fans, but also put on a show that holds up — and this was all icing on the cake.

All on her own, Julie Byrne subsequently came out with open arms. Her performance was expressed so well through her music. After a few powerful songs, she asked for the house lights to be dimmed and welcomed both a violin and keyboard player onstage. In between songs, Byrne told the crowd stories about her time in the Bay Area. When her set was over, she returned for a three-song encore and stayed long enough to chat with her fans. Though “summer” only happens sporadically in SF, you could feel it for a few hours on this night.