Sounds Like This (In Which This = Awesome)

It was obvious that 90% of the crowd was at The Trocadero the night of February 2 (yep, we are super late on this review) for one reason and one reason only: to see One Republic. The band, enjoying its recent success at the hands of The CW (their song "All We Are" was apparently played during a very pivotal moment during an episode of Gossip Girl) has such a big under-age following that The Troc, whose balcony we always count on as a place of over-21 refuge, opened the upstairs to all of the teenagers who deigned to go up. I have a feeling that if I die and go to hell, it will be something like that.

And so Eric Hutchinson, One Republic's primary support, had his work cut out for him. A singer/songwriter more reminiscent of Ben Folds than Fall Out Boy, how in the hell was he ever going to get the kids to shut up and listen?

With Justin Timberlake, that's how. No, Mr. Dick-in-a-Box wasn't present that night, but a few songs into his set, Eric mentioned that he'd been listening to Justin Timberlake recently and kept getting musical deja-vu, using the setup to launch into a medley of JT's greatest hits. (We linked to a video of one such performance in the preview for this show.) Although the set had started off strong, getting his few preexisting fans in the audience in his groove from the first chords of "Outside Villanova," it wasn't until Eric's acoustically accompanied lecture on why "My Love," "What Goes Around.../ ...Comes Around Interlude," and "Cry Me a River" are all actually the same song that he won the room over.

I'd dare say he won himself quite a few fans at that moment, too. Teenage girls who'd never heard of him were calling their friends at home and holding their cellphones up, saying, "You have to hear this!" Young men who hate Timberlake on principle were laughing themselves silly at the notion that their opinion was being vindicated. When the JT mini-set was completed, Eric instructed the audience to take out their cellphones and text message friends not there that night. "Tell them to go to iTunes and download Eric Hutchinson's Sounds Like This. Don't explain anything, just tell them that." Instantly, the audience glowed blue as hundreds of cellphones were whipped out, and the messages were dutifully sent.

By the time the set was over, Eric had a room full of teenaged converts – not to mention all of their absent friends. Behold, the power of technology!

If that's not a sign of success, I don't know what is.

Eric Hutchinson will return to Philadelphia next month as part of the Hotel Cafe Tour. Look for our exclusive interview with him the week before the show, in which, among other things, he'll tell us about his relationship with the Philadelphia area, and what albums he'd take with him on a desert island. Photo by Ross Currie.