Friday, Sept. 22 marked the release of Stephen Sanchez’s highly anticipated debut album “Angel Face” — with his accompanying tour stopping at Detroit’s Majestic Theatre on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
“Angel Face” follows the tangled 1960s tale of a fictionalized Troubadour Sanchez, as he plays with his band The Moon Crests, falls in love with the angelic Evangeline and eventually meets his demise at the hands of Evangeline’s mob boss boyfriend, Hunter.
I know that was a lot of lore, so let me backtrack.
You undoubtedly first heard of Sanchez from his omnipresent 2021 song “Until I Found You” — which originally went viral on TikTok — and has since racked up billions of streams and has been performed on many a late-night show.
Sanchez even shared the stage with Elton John during Glastonbury 2023’s headline slot to perform the song — which says enough.
But with this newfound cultural significance and ubiquity also came a sense of vulnerability, given the relationship that was so central to the song’s creation ended before its official release. Enter: The Troubadour Sanchez.
“I think that I tend to have a hard time connecting with things that have happened in my life because you just move on. And I think for me, with this story, like, to create characters and kind of be the third person watching this story unfold, I think that I can connect with that more because it leaves more room to play and be playful,” Sanchez said in an interview with NPR.
I have to admit, I was not fully aware of this concept album prior to the show, so I was in a state of genuine shock when that eerie record-scratching voiceover started playing.
Lights were flashing, the air was smokey and when Sanchez said something about “haunting the venues of 2023,” I thought, “It is almost Halloween, I’m up for a haunting.”
But if the pre-show setlist of Bobby Darin, Sam Cooke and Ritchie Valens wasn’t enough, Sanchez bursting onto the stage to the sounds of guttural screams in his all-black suit with his slicked back jet black hair — Elvis moves and all —- firmly cemented I had entered the 1960s.
It was truly a sight to see. At just 20 years old, Sanchez knew how to work the crowd — especially his crowd. From the gyrating hips to the shoulder thrusts to the repeated suave hair slick move, I could feel the influences.
The thing I took away the most from Sanchez’s style of performance, however, was even though he was playing a character in a sense, his connection to his music was visceral. He felt the music with his whole body — and that was infectious.
His vocals were atmospheric and haunting and impressively good.
The highlight of the night for me, however, was when I was pretty deep down the rabbit hole of Evangeline and The Angel Club, and then I was suddenly hit with the most unexpected cover of 2008’s “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon.
That opening, “I’ve been roamin’ around, always lookin’ down at all I see,” felt like the skies were clearing — with that moment of levity made even sweeter by Sanchez giddily revealing the song was not planned, but rather “just felt right during soundcheck.”
But soon enough, when that little ominous twinkle started dancing through the air again, I knew the story was back on. And while I appreciate Sanchez’s creative concept of the Troubadour, I really did like that cover.
