Noah Kahan, the 25-year-old New Englander who describes himself as the “Jewish Ed Sheeran” played at Washington’s for a show that was sold out months in advance. This is unsurprising, considering that his music has been blowing up recently as a result of his success on TikTok and the release of his new album, “Stick Season.” Many of the songs from “Stick Season” have gone viral, showing up on millions of recommendation pages across the world, including the title track “Stick Season,” “Northern Attitude” and “Everywhere, Everything.”

Adam Melchor opened up for him, and had a great set. He is an accomplished musician in and of himself, and has a dedicated fanbase. He played two cover songs – “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “Somewhere Only We Know” – which were crowd favorites. I was immediately captivated by his incredible voice in combination with his amazing song-writing skills and groovy yet sparse instrumentation. Every song had exactly what it needed to make it pop. While the crowd was definitely more focused on Kahan, they were absolutely captivated by Melchor’s set, which was a little quieter, equally emotional, yet still just as refreshing. It was a well-received set and the crowd absolutely ate it up.

Noah Kahan, obviously, was the star of the show. With a full band, he played mostly songs from “Stick Season,” including some of his hits. It sounded like every single person in the crowd was singing along to every song, and Kahan heard it, turning the microphone to the crowd at some points. His fan base is incredibly dedicated – people flew in from all over just to see this show, which is one of the last he will be playing in a venue as small as Washington’s.

Both Noah Kahan and Adam Melchor are super funny guys, making the crowd cry during their songs and laugh in between them. Kahan played all his hits, including “All My Love,” “Stick Season,” and many others. His unique voice in combination with both rock instruments and traditional folk instruments – such as the banjo and the mandolin – made for an interesting show with a lot of layers and dimension. The instrumentation sounded great and fit well with the vocals, which were soft and strong at the same time. Nothing about the show felt forced, but it still felt well put together, which is something that not every artist can pull off.

Often, one of the marks of a good show is what cover songs the artist plays. This time around, Kahan played “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isbell, which is beautifully written and an amazing listen every time. Kahan did the song justice, and left his own spin on the song while still maintaining the best parts of it.

All in all, it was an incredible show, and I count myself lucky to have seen Kahan in person before he starts playing huge venues. The intimacy of the show was one of my favorite parts about it. If you have the opportunity to see this show live, I would highly recommend it.

Article and photograph by Bailey Liverman. More information on Noah Kahan and Adam Melchor can be found on their websites.