Franklin Jonas & the Byzantines First of Many Headline Tour is a Celebration of Music, Gratitude, and New Beginnings: Live Review
The love for music that radiates from a Franklin Jonas & the Byzantines show is something that is, honestly, almost impossible to describe. After opening up for the Jonas Brothers, The Maine, and Hunter Hayes over the last year, Franklin Jonas & the Byzantines are making their rounds on their first headlining First of Many Tour across North America - and with a grand total of only five released songs to their discography. It doesn't matter that Jonas's album has been, as he put it, "locked in a basement" and unable to be released. Jonas and his band command a 1,500 capacity room with gratitude, talent, charisma, and infectious joy that almost feels larger than the music itself.
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Jonas is something of a master at creating moments throughout his 90-minute set, barreling out of the gate with unreleased "Revelator," and seeming to touch ground on every corner of his stage, grinning from ear to ear and dropping remarks of gratitude between every verse while his band, comprised of Aidan Harbeson and Tim Bruns, lock eyes with the fans smiling along with Franklin.
Franklin may joke that he made an appearance on last years Greetings From Your Hometown Tour with the Jonas Brothers "exclusively because of nepotism" and claim that he and his band were playing way bigger venues than they should have been at the time, but it's clear that Jonas has learned a thing or two about wholeheartedly trusting and loving his fans. He jumps into the crowd, dragging his miles long mic cord behind him, making loops around the floor of the room singing "Memory Lane" and "Georgia Rain." He laughs as he observes the six-foot high stage and says, "I have no idea how I'm getting back up there," before fans clear the way for Jonas to run back to the stairs and continue on to the first song written for the unreleased album, "Theodora," which remains unreleased in studio form, but has been a staple in Jonas's set for the last year.
Jonas then shares that the year for Franklin Jonas & the Byzantines hasn't quite gone to plan, with his headline tour being booked and put on sale before getting the news that their album was on hold until further notice. But again expressing his gratitude for the people who come out and fill rooms for him and his band, he asks if since he can't give us the album, if it's okay if they just play the whole thing live instead. And it's a testament to what Jonas has created that despite not knowing a single word, he holds the crowds attention, singing through songs hitting notes of Americana, rock, and country-pop and touching on themes spanning from love, sobriety, and the freedom of new beginnings.
After playing the album's unreleased songs, Jonas spends a moment on his music from the pre-Byzantines era when he "did this really weird thing where [he] dressed up in a squirrel costume." Hitting "Spaceship" and "Cherub" from his 2023 EP Sewer Rat, it's clear that Jonas has grown beyond who he was when he wrote those songs. But as he transitions into his biggest hit as a solo artist "High and Sad," the lines "Know I've said that in my past / It's how I've been / It's where I'm at" hit all the harder. As Jonas sings through the song, the crowd is never louder, which brings him to exclaim an excited "Yes!" between verses.
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Jonas and the Byzantines played unplugged acoustic parking lot sets before the doors opened at last year's Greetings From Your Hometown tour, and that stripped back concept makes its way into their headlining set. Pulling up a bar chair to stand on and unplugging all their instruments, Jonas and the band make their way to the back of the floor to sing "Oasis" and "Break the Levee," making this section of the First of Many Tour setlist feel a lot less like a performance and much more like a singalong among friends.
Holding that energy as they return to the stage, Jonas breaks into a cover of Weezer's "Beverly Hills," laughing about the much larger size of the stage compared to some of the club shows he and the band have played as of late, using the opportunity to run back and forth and dance without limitations, waving his arms as he runs and asking the crowd to sing back the words in waves.
And as Franklin Jonas & the Byzantines round out their set with "Road Soda," which was released just as he was beginning to play with the Jonas Brothers a year ago, Franklin asks anyone in the crowd who wants to to join him on stage, offering microphones to those who want them, the band dancing along with fans, and Franklin himself giving the youngest member of the audience center stage at the end of his set. If Franklin Jonas & the Byzantines continue to bring people together through music in this way, it's safe to say this tour truly will be the First of Many.
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