Digitour Concert Review

The Digitour 2011 is already into the second week of its inaugural run.  Luckily, the tour made a stop in Houston, so I was able to get some insight into this fascinating endeavor that I'll be glad to share with you.

The Digitour is made up of nothing but youtube musicians.  Headliners include Mystery Guitarman, The Gregory Brothers, DeStorm, Dave Days, David Choi and Ricky Ficarelli.
In addition, tour dates (depending on the city) will have special guests like:

• Meghan Tonjes
• Wheezy Waiter (Who will be playing with his band Driftless Pony Club), 
• The Key of Awesome
• Christina Grimmie
• Kimmi Smiles
• AJ Oran
• Maria
• Starkid
• MattyB
• Savannah Outen
• Nice Peter

Mystery Guitarman aka Joe Penna, makes some fascinatingly musically adventurous videos.  But how does that translate into a live concert?  That was my biggest question when I first heard about this tour.  It's pretty simple, he makes music.  Penna gets up on stage and produces impromptu music with guitar, drums, pots and pretty much anything that makes good sounds.  He loops the different sounds together and makes beautiful and fun music on the spot.  In addition he plays guitar for Destorm and provides live beats for the rapper.

The Gregory Brothers was another act that kind of baffled me.  I had seen that they were playing South by Southwest earlier this year and that made me tilt my head confuzzledly. With this band, my question was, "What are they gonna autotune the news at every show?"  If I had only gone to their channel, I would have known what talented singers and performers they could be.  Luckily they came my city and gave a live performance so I was able to experience their awesomeness in person.

After seeing The Gregory Brothers set, I immediately clicked subscribe.  Onstage one of the brothers asked the audience to subscribe and indicated where the subscribe button would normally be were we watching the band on youtube. I would have clicked that virtual subscribe button, but the link was broken and I got a 404 error.  So of course, when I got home, I logged into my youtube account and actually subscribed.

Even DeStorm and Dave Days brought the energy, both taking command of the audience for the entire duration of their individual sets.    Even though, neither one of their sets was my type of music.  I still found them entertaining and they kept my attention even after I stopped pointing my camera at them.  Dave even brought a travel-size version of his cardboard girlfriend, Miley.

After attending this concert, my concerns about these musicians's abilities to play live seemed silly.  What we see on youtube is merely a very well produced video version of these bands and artists playing great music.  In my opinion, they were better live than anything I'd seen on youtube.

For some people, the best part will take place after the show.  That's the time to get autographs, take pictures and maybe even get a chance for fans to talk to their favorite youtuber.

If you're fortunate enough to live in or around one of the cities on the tour, I suggest you go.  It's worth the little extra drive if you live on the outskirts or even a couple hours drive.  It took me about an hour to get to House of Blues, but it was worth it.  Also, the price is inexpensive for a concert, in between $10-$17.  So check it out and tweet me pictures if you go @leeroyholmes

For details on tour dates and stops, pleas visit http://www.thedigitour.com