Buffalo Music: Taylor Acorn has a raw and highly energetic performance at Rec Room

(Above: Taylor Acorn at Rec Room. Photos by Chloe Kowalyk.)

By Chloe Kowalyk

Powerhouse vocals and high energy jams aren’t the only things you can expect when seeing Taylor Acorn live. 

You’ll also find heart, and the soul of a girl who grew up to be a bit different than her family. 

Acorn’s nostalgic songwriting takes full form in her new album “Poster Child,” yet the music truly comes alive when Acorn performs on stage. 

Acorn performed for her first time in Buffalo (she misremembered performing in Syracuse in our preview) to a busy crowd spilling out the sides and back of Rec Room’s stage area on Monday night. 

The night began with opener “wilt,” an indie bedroom rock group. wilt’s set perfectly primed the crowd for a night of pop punk energy, as lead singer Chelsea shared the microphone with fans and urged the crowd to sing along. 

The audience was loud for an opening act, and energy buzzed between jumping bodies as the crowd jammed along to wilt’s fast-paced guitar riffs and slamming vocals. 

After wilt finished an unforgettable set, the crowd waited in anticipation for Acorn to take the stage, squeezing up against the front of the stage. 

Almost no one moved between sets, ensuring they’d get the best view of the experience to come. 

Among the early adult-aged fans was a young girl, no more than eight, pressed right against the center of the stage with an Acorn shirt and large earplugs covering her ears. 

When Acorn took the stage, cheers erupted across the venue, as Acorn kicked off the show with energy and excitement. 

Fans screamed along with the words, jumped during musical breaks and smiled alongside Acorn. 

The energy of the set was mixed with emotion, as Acorn performed some pieces from “Poster Child.” 

The most emotional part of the set was when Acorn sang “Home Videos” fully acoustic. “Home Videos represents Acorn’s yearn for nostalgia, as she sang about her childhood and how she wishes she could return to the simple parts of her childhood. 

After this piece, Acorn continued to sing with her heart, and made several remarks about how she cannot believe performing her art is her job. 

She surprised the crowd with a wheel of songs that could be spun by a fan to determine which song the band would play next.

Acorn selected the young girl to spin, as she nervously approached Acorn and the wheel while the crowd cheered. 

The girl gave the wheel a big spin, as it landed on “Sticking Around” as the surprise song for the night. 

The crowd exploded with excitement, jumping and dancing as the band began to play. 

Even though her newest album was only released a few weeks ago, there wasn’t one song the fans didn’t dance and sing along to. 

Many knew every word, swaying back and forth to each song. 

At one point, Acorn asked the crowd to look around at each other, and explained that we all go through difficult times in our lives, and that the community around us shows we are never alone.

The set ended with a slower song, “Birds Still Sing,” as both Acorn and the crowd poured their hearts into the piece about continuing on even on your hardest days.

As Acorn left the stage, the crowd stuck around, cheering and begging for an encore. 

The band jumped back on stage, rewarding the audience.

Acorn finished the night with “Psycho,” one of her fan favorites, amassing over 21.6 million streams on Spotify. 

The crowd was as energetic as ever, giving Acorn a high-octane send off for her Buffalo debut. 

You can check out wilt on Spotify here and on Instagram @wiltband

You can check out Taylor Acorn on Spotify here and on Instagram @tayloracornmusic