Welcome to my first concert review! For those who don’t know who I am, I’m Ebony Dionne. I’m an alumni DJ here at WUSC and my show is Holla If Ya Hear Me, which is a Hip Hop and R&B show on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. But enough about me and onto the review. So, I went to see Vedo at The Senate on Oct. 28 with my cousin, sister, and brother-in-law. A little background on Vedo, he’s an indie R&B singer and is best known for his YouTube covers aka V-Mix’s of popular songs. But, he was also a contestant on season four of The Voice and was coached by Usher. He’s a songwriter and has written songs for a wide range of artists such as SHINee, EXO, Chris Brown, Usher, and August Alsina just to name a few. He got attention with his viral hit “You Got It” in 2020, and was a featured backup singer for Usher during his Tiny Desk Concert performance last year, which got a lot of positive buzz and acclaim.
I’ve been a fan of Vedo for a good while and after going to see Beyoncé on her Renaissance World Tour I caught the concert bug. Going into The Senate, I was very much excited and in a good mood. It was a real feel-good atmosphere and the fans were really ready to see him - a group of them even started chanting his name while waiting for the show to start. The show opened with another indie R&B singer named Torica, who’s opening up for Vedo on tour, and a fellow Columbia, SC native. She performed her new single “A Whole Mood'' along with a few songs from her catalog like “You Don’t Love Me” and “Sick of Being Lonely” by Field Mob, which she was featured on. She even did an icebreaker with the crowd by performing some R&B classics like “I Wanna Be Down” by Brandy and bringing up someone from the crowd to see if they had Megan Thee Stallion-type knees and seeing who could do it the longest, which I found entertaining and funny. But, I enjoyed her set and she gained a new fan.
Before Vedo came out, his DJ did a mini set to get the crowd hype and in a good space by playing some ’90s, ’00s, and 2010’s-present day including “Can We Talk” by Tevin Campbell, “Swag Surfin’” by F.L.Y., “It’s Goin’ Down” by Yung Joc, just to name a few. Then, that’s when Vedo came on stage with his two dancers. He sat in a chair in between them and began his set with “Waterfalls.” All you could hear were screams and the crowd singing along with him. It was a very intimate performance throughout and he engaged with and fed off of the crowd’s energy the whole time. I liked the incorporation of the dancers where he would bring them out for certain songs. He performed songs from his new album 7 like “The Only Way”, “Deep (Hold You)”, and “Split” along with fan favorites from his other albums like “Celebrate”, “Soul”, “Yvette”, and “Juicy” ft Ari Lennox. He even performed some of my favorites from him like “For Me” ft Jacquees, “Do You Mind” ft Chris Brown, “Queen Vibes”, “FOREVER”, and “D.A.F.” He also did his cover of Usher’s “Nice & Slow” which was good and unexpected. Then, he ended the show by doing his viral hit “You Got It”, and even when the song had ended he did the hook/chorus with the crowd a few times acapella before leaving the stage and thanking everyone for coming out.
Overall, this concert is up there for me on my list of being one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Just seeing the crowd’s interactions with him and singing all of his songs word for word, some being in their own world and dancing, and even seeing couples hugged up and singing to each other. With the way he performed, it’s like you didn’t want the concert to end because he basically performed hit after hit. Certain ones I wished would’ve made it to the set list like “You and Me”, “Soon As I Get Home”, and “Made For 2”, but he did the majority of my favorites so I can’t be mad at that. On top of his stage presence, giving vocals, and sounding exactly like his records, you know that he learned and took notes from the other R&B greats before him and applied his twist to it. He’s definitely going to continue to make waves in the R&B world, and show that he’s amongst the ones who’s keeping R&B alive and well.
What’s up y’all! My name is Ebony Robinson, and I’m from Columbia, SC. I’m an alumni DJ and have been with WUSC for going on 6 years (a lot of semesters). My show is Holla If Ya Hear Me with Ebony Dionne, and I love all things Hip Hop and R&B especially the old school. I also love the old Disney Channel movies and cult classics like The Last Dragon. If you’re a fan of all of these things, then you’ll definitely love and enjoy my show!