Amy Grant @ Riviera Theater, North Tonawanda, NY 9-20-23

Amy Grant started her fall leg of her current tour at the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda, NY this past Wednesday. Grant is known primarily as a contemporary Christian artist but also dabbled into other avenues such as gospel and pop. In fact, Grant really made herself a household name when she crossed over to pop in the early 1990’s with her album ‘Heart in Motion. That album included two hit singles in “Baby Baby” and “Every Heartbeat.” This is my first time checking out Grant live so I was curious to see what she had to offer in a live setting.

She was very prompt in taking the stage at 7:30pm. She was backed by a 7 piece band that went into “Every Road” off her 1997 ‘Behind the Eyes’ album. Before the song, “What You Heard,” Grant talked about how she was cleaning out her attic and invited her kids to try on some of the clothes before she was to donate them. She said understanding and attending therapy sessions is such a positive thing in her life. It brings her closer to her kids. In fact, she shared multiple inspirational stories throughout the show. Another one was when she talked about a local gentleman in town named Jimmy Gentry. Gentry talked to her about living life through one word phrases. The most important phrase was the word “we.” This led into the next song “Lord Have Mercy on Me.” Before the tour started, Grant said her band wanted to dive into some older material to start playing live. One of those tracks was “I Have Decided.” This was one of the most upbeat songs of the set. For “Wise Up,” each background singer came to the forefront to sing with Grant on the tune. She talked about how tickets for shows are so expensive and appreciated the fans coming out to see her. She played the acoustic guitar on a few tunes, including “Somewhere Down the Road.” Grant talked about how that she might as well do the song Next Time I Fall,” as Peter Grant is now retired. Guitarist Gene Miller was up to the task and did a bang up job singing Cetera’s parts. Grant is heavily involved in her charity Compassion Responders. Before the end of the 1st set, she tried to solicit donations and offered a signed poster if they chose to donate.

There was a 15 minute intermission and Grant reappeared with a new outfit as the band played “Lead Me On.” She shared another story about how the neighborhood came together for a woman to do a home makeover of sorts. This lead into “I Will Be Your Friend.” She talked about her setlist and trying to select songs and some people shouted out songs to her. One song, “Thy Wood,” she agreed to try and only played a snippet of it. I thought Grant and her bands shining moment came on “All I Have to Ever Be” as they really sounded tight and really brought that song to life. Grant sang a few of her biggest hits towards the send of the 2nd set. She closed with a reprise of “Trees We’ll Never See.”

All in all, I found the show very inspirational. Grant seems to pass along positive messages in the background while while delivering quality show at the forefront.

Setlist:

Every Road

Stay for a While

Angels

Love Will Find a Way

Oh How the Years

What You Heard

Lord Have Mercy on Me

I Have Decided

Wise Up

Good for Me

Somewhere Down the Road