William Singe and Alex Aiono dazzle at the Skyway Theatre

Some of the most enthusiastic audience shows I have covered in the past have been YouTube stars going on tour, so when we were approached about the William Singe & Alex Aiono tour coming to the Skyway, I quickly said yes. So I found myself on a Sunday night surrounded by about 2000 young fans and what seemed like double that amount of mobile phone screens.

First up was Alex Aiono who amassed over 4 million YouTube followers with his covers and now has original songs, a show on Radio Disney and one of his songs in the Lego Batman Movie soundtrack. Fans more than ready for him, judging by the loud cheers that greeting his guitar tech and the smoke machine. When Aiono took the stage by himself the volume pretty much tripled. His set included several new songs and the fact that the audience already knew the words seemed to surprise him “Y’all Crazy!” he responded. He invited his fans join in the chorus for a brand-new song “Mo Fi?”.

I was impressed by his command of the crowd. It’s easy to think of someone on YouTube as shy, but Aiono engaged his fans through his set and retained them through several slower numbers before finishing his set with several high-energy songs.

William Singe started his set with about 10 minutes of a hype man trying to raise the energy level. I am not certain why, fans seemed pretty much ready to me and I did not notice any increase. Maybe it was just a creative way to set up the stage, as the hype man dropped off water bottles and the set list before grabbing his backpack and shuffling of stage. However strange that was, all was forgotten when Singe came onstage. Now 24 the Australian got his start in an Aussie boy band, The Collective, formed for X Factor Australia. From there on he went on to YouTube stardom collaborating with Drake, and landed a record deal with RCA last summer and releasing “Rush” in early 2017. His set was upbeat, with hip hop elements. Aiono joined him for stage giving fans the best of both acts.

Overall I enjoyed seeing talented young artists emerging. Those chaps are serious musicians and deserve to be recognized for their skills.