On November 4, I attended one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. MAX, or Max Schneider, was at the Gramercy Theatre playing a sold-out show in his hometown of New York City. He is most recognized for his top 20 hit, “Lights Down Low,” or his appearance on multiple television shows and movies. Only 5 years ago, I saw MAX play a free show in Central Park with only his ukulele and now he is playing on a huge stage to a sold-out crowd.
I arrived about a half an hour before doors opened and the line was already wrapped around two blocks. The atmosphere of The Gramercy was really cool, making it a great fit for MAX’s show. It has an old theater feel with posters plastered all over the walls. The space is surprisingly large considering it is right in the middle of New York City. Before I knew it, the crowd packed in to get as close to the stage as possible and the room filled with ecstatic energy.
The lights went down and the first opening act, Amir, came on stage. Amir seemed very genuine, speaking to the audience like they were his friends. Joining him was Rozes. Rozes has so much energy, it was infectious, but what really made the show was her drummer, Benny Brown. He was going crazy on stage and the two of them really pumped up the crowd. Soon after, the neon pink “MAX” sign flashed on and the crowd went crazy. MAX jumped on stage and started with his song “Savage,” a hard-core song is impossible not to dance to.
MAX is one of the best performers I’ve ever seen. He is constantly jumping around on stage, interacting with the audience, and having a blast with what he is doing. His antics include splits, jumping on top of boxes on stage, and standing in the crowd. The show truly felt like one big party. MAX has a natural talent for performing for an audience and it shines through when he’s on stage. Many of his songs are musically complex and the lyrics tell a story. My personal favorites from this tour are “Basement Party”, “One More Weekend”, “Mug Shot”, and of course, “Lights Down Low”.
Performing with MAX was Ryan Siegel who is his DJ. Together they have a project called Party Pupils where they remix songs and recently, started to release their own originals. They performed a few of these songs during this tour including “Ms. Jackson” and “Pony”. The biggest stand-out moment of the night was when MAX, Ryan, and their trumpet player all started synchronized choreography.
I think one of the reasons audiences respond so well to MAX and his team is that they’re so real on stage. MAX loves to talk about his wife, Emily Schneider, and even ran over to kiss her in the middle of a song. She works hard backstage to make the performance run smoothly and when she’s not managing his social media or running the merchandise station, she is dealing with security and fans. It was also a really touching moment when MAX brought his dad, Dan Schneider, on stage and he surprised MAX with a matching pitchfork tattoo representing his album “Hell’s Kitchen Angel”. To wrap up the collection of sweet moments, MAX brought out his ukulele talked about how years ago he played on the streets and he always wished that one day his hometown city would come to his shows. As he talked about this memory, he started to cry. The amount of love and energy in the room was incredible.
Towards the end of the night, MAX began to sing his hit song, “Lights Down Low”. MAX wrote this song to propose to his wife, pouring out all the love he feels for her. He didn’t create it with the intention to get it on the radio, and yet it’s the one song that skyrocketed. MAX wants this song to represent love for everyone, no matter what gender, sexual orientation, or race they are.
MAX’s Meteor Tour is taking the world by storm, traveling across the United States, Australia, Europe, and Canada. If you haven’t heard of him yet, check out his new album “Hell’s Kitchen Angel”. I promise you will not be dissapointed!