Emily Kinney Played House of Independents, 12/4/15

First Time in a New Space

Emily Kinney, best known for her role as Beth Greene on The Walking Dead, brought her music back to Asbury Park last night for her (and my) first time at the new House of Independents. Kinney's acting experience and musical theater background were both evident in her performance; and she was as gracious as she was the last time I saw her, even in the face of a little audience weirdness.

I walked into House of Independents a little before 8pm, and I immediately got the feeling of newness and freshness from the venue. The space is open and modern, and I started getting more excited to see how it would look and sound when the performance started.

Friday's show would be a seated affair. House of Independents can accommodate up to 275 seated guests. They're also able to retract their seating for standing room shows of 500. The size really is perfect for a downtown venue, and the placement of both the upstairs and downstairs bars means that you don't get that annoying thing of bar backs dragging kegs and garbage cans through the performance space all night long.

Kinney and her band took the stage a little after 8:30 and played songs from both of her EPs -- Blue Toothbrush and Expired Love -- as well as her new full-length This Is War. She told stories in between songs, discussing their inspirations and how her dual career has influenced her songwriting. When she wasn't playing guitar, she gestured for emphasis like a Broadway performer. Kinney has a beautiful voice that adds some sweetness even to songs that are lyrically kind of bitter. Her music is singer / songwriter pop with a hint of country. The songs are honest and very clearly reflect the personality Kinney presents on stage.

Like her last trip through Asbury, I got the sense that many in the audience had become fans via Kinney's stint on the most popular show in the history of cable television. When Kinney introduced one song by saying, "This is a song about a boy I met," someone in the audience called out, "Darryl!" At another point, someone got up from their seat, walked right up in front of the stage, and started taking photos or videos mid-song. Kinney laughed and eventually posed for the camera. In both cases, she never called anyone out and remained incredibly gracious. Kinney included two covers in the set that were familiar to Walking Dead fans: her own spin on the spare "Be Good" from Waxahatchee's American Weekend and a version of Tom Waits classic "Hold On."

At the end of the main set, Kinney and the band left the stage to applause. Those died down, and the crowd waited quietly -- very quietly -- until Kinney returned for a one song encore. I had a weird thought at that moment. The audience consisted of fans who had come to Kinney's music -- and there were plenty of people who knew every word to every song -- by being fans of her TV show. They weren't necessarily seasoned concert-goers like the people I see every weekend in Asbury Park. They were there to see one of their TV idols and didn't know or care about conventions like chanting "One. More. Song." or "Play 'Freebird!'" And, to her credit, Kinney didn't demand that her audience adhere to those conventions by implementing a "No Photo / Video" policy or not coming out for an encore because the crowd weren't making enough noise (I mean, nobody was leaving.). She gave her fans, some of whom had driven hours to be there, a very enjoyable night of music and stories; and she didn't pretend that her time on TV didn't exist. She embraced it and was clearly grateful for the support.

And House of Independents is a showplace. The bar. The lighting. The sound. It's an amazing place to see a show in an excellent downtown location. I look forward to many, many future experiences there and wish them all the luck in the world.

You can check out the pics from Emily Kinney's set by clicking the link below.

Emily Kinney