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Grentperez, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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GRENTPEREZ
+ Matthew Ifield
@ Max Watts, Melbourne,
13th December 2023
(Live Review)

Review by Sam Coronado

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Grentperez, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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I first encountered grentperez on a laptop screen in late 2019. At the time, Grant Perez was a Filipino-Australian 17-year-old from suburban Western Sydney, posting him-and-his-guitar covers to the internet. I was taken by his boyish, emotive crooning, his simple playing, and the stripped-back sound. Even the backdrop of his slightly messy bedroom (that looked a bit like mine at the time) made this particular cover – a Rex Orange County tune – stick with me.

Fast forward four years and it seems like much has changed for Grant. On the 13th of December I watched him play the second of two shows at Max Watts in Melbourne, one of the many legs on his Growing Up tour. He is headlining and selling out venues across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Europe. He is writing, and playing his own songs. Instead of sitting on his bed with a guitar he is dancing in front of packed crowds. He only recently came off tour with Rex Orange County in September, the artist he covered four years ago, as support. It really does seem like everything has changed.

Except, I think, for the things that count. While the packed crowds all around the world singing his songs back to him is a far cry from his messy room, grentperez still wears so much of what first gave him an audience on his sleeve. Sure, those boyish croons and sweet falsetto runs have been transplanted from bedroom to the basement-like stage of the pumping, moody Max Watts, but they haven’t lost any of the immediacy and heart. The languid highs of “Clementine” – one of his earlier originals – are undeniably pretty, with the dreamy guitars and tender vocals taking you right back to those wonderful covers.

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Grentperez, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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The simple yet infectious riffs that characterised some of his earliest releases have found a home within a poppy, rock-ish, live band sound that, surprisingly, fits the artist who got his start alone in his room like a glove. I’m sure anyone there still doubting if this guy with a handful of TikTok hits would hold up live was more than convinced by numbers like “Day by Day”, or “Wishful Thinking”, which is significantly elevated from the studio recording in the live performance.

The set included some newer material from this year’s When We Were Younger (2023), with songs such as “Silver Lining” highlighting Grant’s growth as a songwriter. Again, the studio recording is improved on by the band’s performance, which transforms a cute, synth-led, bedroom indie tune into an acoustic pop-rock number with a heap of feeling behind it. Speaking of his band, that they all seem to not only enjoy the music they are playing, but who they are playing with makes it very easy to join them in having fun. Whether they are dancing cheekily or cracking jokes between songs all three of them seem to be having a blast performing together.

Both Charlie Kurthi (drums) and Timi Temple (guitar/bass), who have been regulars with grentperez on recent tours, bantered frequently with both Grant and the crowd, and also showed some chops of their own. Their tight instrumental solos were testament to the overall musicianship on display. Despite being a solo act, grentperez and his band performed together like the best of mates.

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Grentperez, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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At the beginning of the gig, Grant jokingly welcomed us to what he called a “comedy show”. One of the ‘jokes’ on offer arrived around halfway through the set, when Timi interrupted Grant between songs as he remembered that he “forgot to fill the parking meter”. The gag turned into an excuse for the band to depart the stage, leaving just Grant in front of his eager fans. Just like how most of those fans, myself included, were introduced to him, it was once again just him and his guitar.

I may have mentioned earlier that grentperez hadn’t changed in all the things that matter, but I don’t mean that he hasn’t grown. Like the name of this current tour suggests, Grant is no longer that same 17 year old boy posting covers recorded in his room. Now 22, when he takes the stage on his own it really does go to show how far he has come as an individual and artist. The evidence is in his presence in front of hundreds of screaming fans, the way he quips about his old songs having too many high notes, and his crowd engagement, which while at times could be cut back, was consistently charming and fun nonetheless. He only played a few songs on his own, before his band joined him once again, but it was all at once a reminder of where he started and how far he has come.

When they first left the stage near the end of the night, the crowd were impatiently clamouring for grentperez’ far-and-away most popular song, “Cherry Wine”. Before the encore could even begin, the young audience took the initiative and began to belt out the first verse. Following another great tune in “Stuck on You”, which he dedicated to some friends that had come down from Sydney to watch, the viral song that was Grant’s first real hit was finally a singalong for the crowd, and a fitting closer for the band.

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Matthew Ifield, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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Matthew Ifield was the support act before grentperez, who I held off from mentioning him until now. What captivated me most that night was the thought that Grant has seemingly come so far, and yet remained true to everything that initially made his name worth remembering. The essence of a singer-songwriter might be this balancing act between growth and humility. Having Ifield, who just turned 19 only a few hours after the show ended, join him as a support act demonstrated exactly this. Ifield mentioned uploading covers to YouTube, just like Grant, and I imagine that seeing someone who had taken the same path succeed, and then also touring with them, would do wonders for him as an artist.

The sound and lights were fantastic all night. As he acknowledged the venue staff and his band, it became clear that down-to-earth, charismatic teenager I saw on the laptop screen had become a down-to-earth, charismatic dude. But it was when he finally directed the applause to himself, and deservingly so, that it was clear he was a pretty talented dude, and this is only the beginning.

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Grentperez, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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Check out Michael Siege’s full gallery of the Adelaide event HERE

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Follow grentperez
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Grentperez, The Gov, 9th December 2023 / Photo – Michael Seige

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AMNPLIFY – DB