While millions of people know Tyler Hilton as Chris Keller from the hit TV show One Tree Hill, he is also a professional musician and a secret comedian. Friday, March 8, Hilton performed his City on Fire tour – which coincides with his 2019 album City on Fire – at the Clintonville-based Rumba Café.
Frank Viele
Opening with up-and-coming blues artist Frank Viele, Hilton captivated the evening with his musical talent and charismatic energy.
The venue was small but lively as Hilton cracked jokes about favorite fonts, tramp-stamp tattoos and how the drummer, Dave, sleepwalks around hotels. Hilton interacted with the crowd and even took song suggestions from the audience, making the concert feel personal and relaxed. Half-way through the performance, the audience even had the opportunity to FaceTime Hilton’s wife, Megan, who was chilling in their Los Angeles home.
Hilton was very connected with his music and it was all around contagious – you could see him put his heart and soul into his songs. The evening also featured an exciting cover – the crowd cheered and sang along as Hilton performed a more acoustic version of the song Stay by singer-songwriter, Rhianna.
Hilton also pleased the crowd with a local shout-out. Along with Dave, the two musicians wore recently purchased Columbus and Ohio-themed shirts from the Short North store Tigertree. Although the piano player, Jake, wasn’t sporting a local shirt, he did hint he was wearing Buckeye underwear.
"I was very impressed that the songs I wrote while I was doing homework ended up being released on a major label." - Tyler Hilton
What’s a concert without a little chanting? Throughout the evening, Hilton encouraged the crowd to chant “Corey,” the tour roadie and stage manager. It wasn’t just “Corey” though, Hilton laughed as crowd members started chanting “Dave,” “Jake” and even “Megan” after the FaceTiming episode. But chanting “Corey” took on a different meaning when Hilton managed to break a guitar string mid-song and needed his right-hand-man to quickly make the repair. In the meantime, Hilton improvised and played a song on the piano and harmonica. After the string was fixed, Hilton picked up right where he left off – the second verse.
Hilton performed a throwback with his first single When It Comes, which he wrote in high school. In regards to his early songs, a press release quoted Hilton saying, “I wrote all those songs when I was still in high school and I was very impressed that the songs I wrote while I was doing homework ended up being released on a major label. That was really exciting for me. I could have written those kinds of songs again, but I wanted to do better. And I think my new album is better.”
A song the audience was very familiar with was one Hilton performed during the series finale of One Tree Hill. A slow but passionate song called Loaded Gun, the crowd happily swayed along while reminiscing about Chris Keller.
Sadly, the thoughts of One Tree Hill weren’t all happy that evening. Hilton dedicated How Long ’Til I Lose You to a friend from the One Tree Hill cast who recently passed away.
As the night came to an end, Hilton closed the show with When the Night Moves. After everything was said and done, Hilton joined fans at the merchandise table to meet, sign autographs and take pictures with his fans.
If you haven’t gotten a chance to see Hilton in concert, he will be stopping in Port Clinton, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. His folk, blues, rock n’ roll vide is defiantly worth the drive. And hurry with tickets, it could be another sold-out show.
Click here learn more about Tyler Hilton and his City on Fire tour.
Bethany Schultz is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at lfreudenberg@cityscenemediagroup.com.
