Concert Review: Alec Benjamin Sings To Nostalgia At Irving Plaza

Alec Benjamin’s performance at Irving Plaza proved the power of social connection., Alec’s fandom have avidly moved him from online screens to sold-out live shows. Yet, as he stood with his guitar and open heart, you realized why they made him their hero. For teens and early twenty-somethings, Alec represented the loss of childhood innocence without the loss of childlike hopes.  

“Paper Crown,” “Death of A Hero,” and “The Wolf And The Sheep” were just a few of his songs that exemplified an overarching theme in Benjamin’s music: nostalgia. Its hard to believe somebody born in “1994” has nostalgia because they are still young. Yet, personally, the minutes you hit the double digits, in terms of age, the past becomes something you long for. You miss the days when you didn’t have a crush on someone and foolishly thought doing their homework would win them over (“Annabelle’s Homework”) or even when you felt so alone you might as well have built a friend or been a “Boy In The Bubble.” The minute you start wanting things or people is also the minute you start missing them or feeling a sense of lack. 

With his dough eyes and sweet smile, Benjamin’s charm is that he feels like the kindest guy to know rejection, which his young crowd understood. As phones when up and groups of highschool friends united to sing along with the soft-spoken/ lulling vocalist, he treated his lyrics like they were the medicines to their social anxieties. Though his melodies may bounce around like gymnasts doing back-flips, his verses are, actually, simple and settled in discontent. He is the young kid that is smart and sweet, but can’t seem to hold on to love or inner peace. Yup, teens can relate to that. 

In a way, the greatest “trick” in Benjamin’s arsenal is that he appears like an underdog, which most people feel they are. Rare is the person that thinks they are the hero or lead in a story; most of us presuming we are the best friend or semi-cool side-kick. Thus, Alec sings for us, “the seconds,” and how we wish to be first but would settle for “the one.” For More Information On Alec Benjamin Click Here.