The Irish quartet known as Kodaline performed in Houston at the House of Blues on Friday, May 1.

The night started off with a performance from the opening act, Gavin James. He centered the stage with just his red hair and acoustic guitar while performing his live album. Halfway through his set list, he even jumped off stage and weaved his way into the crowd where he sang a few songs a capella. With a thick Irish accent and charismatic spunk, James charmed the crowd almost immediately.

From my experiences, crowds usually don’t care about the opening act. Many times people don’t even pay attention until the main band comes on—however at this show, everyone enjoyed James. He definitely had a way of hooking the crowd, and by the end of his first song, everyone was tapping their feet along with the beat.

After James, Kodaline came on stage singing “Ready.” Between songs, they gave a little background info on their band and although their accents gave it away, they didn’t fail to mention that they were all born and raised in Ireland.

With colorful lighting techniques and strong vocals, Kodaline had every audience member singing and dancing. Age barriers seemed to melt away in the audience—though most of the crowd members were middle aged, they sang along with the young adults with just as much passion.

Considering most of Kodaline’s songs are soft and indie-sounding, the entire feel of the concert was just very laid back and relaxing. Even in the more emotional songs such as “All I Want,” during which James came on stage to help perform, the crowd stayed quiet and enjoyed the meaningful lyrics.

My favorite part of the night was when they performed “High Hopes.” The song itself is fun and has a strong chorus that makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs, so hearing it live was even better. During this song, I noticed a couple next to me laughing and singing together, which reminded me just how much happiness a simple song can bring someone.

Overall, the concert was very enjoyable. I instantly fell in love with Gavin James and definitely see a big future for him as an artist. As for Kodaline, they were just as wonderful as I had hoped. Their set list was very well constructed, with just enough old and new songs to make a perfect mix. They sounded great live and had a great way of getting the crowd into the music.