Grace Enger's "It's So Fun" Tour with Jake Minch in Dallas

March 24th, 2025

I always feel a little redundant introducing these posts after most of you have already seen that I attended them on my Instagram, but I still feel that's the appropriate way to start writing about things, so I'm gonna tell you a second time!

I saw Jake Minch open for Grace Enger in the Cambridge Room at the House of Blues in Dallas on the first Sunday of my school's spring break. I am still in my first year of working at a high school, so getting school breaks back and not having to work through them has been a luxury I have not experienced since I was in high school myself. I was lucky enough to have many of these crazy concert plans fall within this week, this show being the first of five that I attended while on break, and I could not have been more stoked for the timing and alignment of it all. 

I have been following Jake Minch and keeping up with his music releases since before his debut single officially dropped. I stumbled across a video of him singing with his acoustic guitar years ago and have been following along ever since, and now Jake is consistently in my top songs and artists of the week and his songs "jessie" and "handgun" have earned their spots as some of my most streamed songs of all time. Though much of what is negatively said about social media is true, it does not get enough credit for how easy it has made promoting small artists and businesses to people who would not have otherwise had access to their art, services, or products. I think it's amazing to see how far people can get simply by putting themselves out there online.

I purchased a face value ticket to this show before I knew anyone could accompany me. I knew I had to be there, and I figured someone would eventually cave and decide to go with me. I had never had a negative experience at the House of Blues in Dallas (subtle foreshadowing for the impending doom of later in the week) (that'll be another post... there's too much to say) and I have nothing but positive things to say about both Jake Minch and Grace Enger, so this did play out exactly as I hoped it would. All three of my sisters and my sister's partner all wound up purchasing resale tickets, and we met at the venue for the show!

March 16th, 2025

Both sets went above and beyond my expectations. I love an acoustic set, especially when an artist tours alone with just a guitar, which is what Jake Minch did for this tour. He curated a perfect balance of unreleased and known songs to play in his time on stage. My sisters have been big fans of the snippets of "fingers and clothes" that he has posted online, so we were all very excited to hear him play it in full for the crowd. I loved hearing the crowd sing along to his released music and I loved the acoustic renditions of some of his songs that are (excellently) produced for streaming platforms, and I would absolutely love to see him with a full band one day.

As someone who spends so much of my free time writing, I find myself so impressed by songwriters in particular. Writing lyrics feels like a daunting, impossible task in itself, but especially with the elements of melody, song structure, production, rhythm, timing, and everything else added on top. 

I find Jake Minch to be incredibly good at what he does (for every reason imaginable, really) but because of the way he builds images in his songs. He manages to pinpoint such specific emotions within his lyrics about particular, one-of-a-kind circumstances while still maintaining relatability with his listeners. 

Personally, I've never felt very good at writing with the goal of my work coming across as "appealing" to an audience without tainting the vulnerability and genuinity of my original experience or inspiration. Honestly, I didn't know writers were aiming to appeal until I started working in critical groups in my writing courses in college. 

I have always been a pretty selfish writer, and by that I mean I tend to write what I want to say and what I want to read. For most of my life, that presented itself as bodies of fiction that was loosely inspired by bits of real life, because writing about myself was not a comfortable thing for me until I was almost a senior in college.

I find it takes incredible skill to write something self-indulgent (or just about myself at all) and keep people interested. Workshops and writing courses and instructors and articles all tell you that one of the most important elements of writing is to give the reader something to care about. Give them a reason to be invested in your work with a strong hook or idea, but almost more importantly, they need a reason to stick with it. There needs to be something about your song that keeps people listening through the very end.

I think holding the attention of an audience when telling a story is a feat in itself, but combining that aspect with the concision that comes with songwriting and then putting it all to music is something astounding to me. Keeping an entire story short and to the point while still being interesting to listen to is insane on its own, but it's especially inspiring when the songs can be stripped down and presented simply and they hit just as hard on their own.

I am aware that this genre of music is not groundbreaking by any means. Acoustic indie/folk/country(?) music is always going to come back around as a timeless approach for singers writing their own songs, but I think it is difficult to have mastered it from the start, and Jake Minch really knows how to pick which songs to develop and which to release. Having a completely skipless (and arguably perfect) discography so early on in both his music career and his life is something not many artists can say they've done. His view of the world is so uniquely articulated through retellings or imaginings of specific experiences while still connecting with such a broad scope of people. The stories he tells through these songs are evidently drawn from personal inspirations in his own life, but I still feel like he opened my brain to find something to write about. I find this personability sets him apart from many other artists doing "that same kind of thing" with their music.

Two of my sisters and I did chat with him for a minute after the show, where we all shook hands, took photos, and expressed how much we enjoyed his set. I purchased probably my favorite piece of artist merch I've ever gotten at a show (which is saying something, considering my concert t-shirt drawer will not close in my closet). 

I went into this show obsessed with him and came out of it still obsessed with him, just hungry for the new music he played that I can't stream yet.

If you are a fan of music with impactful lyrics, I'd strongly recommend starting with "handgun" (Jake Minch's debut single) and going from there. The other one I counted down the days for was "jessie", which has a bit more production to it, and I have a mind-altering experience listening to it at least twice a week. There's not a bad song, these are just my all-time favorites. :)

And now for Grace!

I kind of dabbled in Grace Enger's music starting around this time last year, and it was actually because she released a collaboration with Jake Minch. "Good Stuff" came out last April, and I fell so in love with the song that I began easing into listening to her other work, too. She began the gradual release of her singles leading up to her latest album, The Alchemist, which is what she went on her first headline tour with this year.

I have a system in my notes app of ranking and marking new albums I listen to so that I can remember which ones I liked for what reasons, and I marked The Alchemist as a "no-skips" album after the first listen. My favorite track is still probably the lead single, "It's No Fun," which she named the tour after, but I found I loved her setlist beginning to end. There were still songs I was not familiar with, but I enjoyed hearing them live so much that I went back through to add them to my monthly playlist. My sisters moved toward the back of the room so we could all be together for Grace's portion of the show, and I loved seeing her crowd light up each time she began a new song. The joy and support from her fanbase was so much more radiant than I expected, and I loved watching it catch the band on stage as well.

I went in as a more casual listener of hers, but she truly "converted" me into a fan with the energy of her performance, the impact of her songs, and how precious this tour seemed to her. I've said this on here before, but I love nothing more than an artist who makes it clear how much they love doing what they do, and I felt that strongly watching Grace perform her set. She interacted with the crowd, went off her own setlist to take a request from a shouter in the back of the room, and kept up such a genuine spirit throughout the night. Her personality was able to shine both through the songs and her presence on stage, and she still felt like a very real, down to earth person through it all.

March 24th, 2025

I believe she just ended the tour a night or two ago, finishing up her first ever run of headlining shows, and I have a feeling that will be her first and last time headlining venues that small. She came across as so gracious and humble for the experience while still expressing the pride she has in this album and her growth as an artist, which crafted such a strong first impression for those in the room who didn't know much about her before. She and her band played the show to its fullest from start to finish and I have loved keeping up with her posts about the tour continuing and coming to a close since my show has passed. Grace is an artist I'd rearrange plans to see again, and I see myself continuing to keep up with her as an artist and an individual in the future.

I knew I was going to enjoy seeing her, but she still managed to captivate me beyond expectation. I walked away with solidified appreciation for her music and a greater understanding of her as an artist, and I'd recommend you look into her music too! Selling out your first headlining tour is a rare, extraordinary thing for a young artist (or any artist at all!) and I can already see her career taking off. 

I love catching onto greatness at its very beginning, and that's how I felt about both artists leaving this show. Jake and Grace were both unbelievable in such an intimate venue, and I am looking forward to seeing where each of them go from here. This was an awesome start to my concert week!!

Thank you for reading this update! There should be one or two more coming up soon (as this was one of five shows I attended in the span of six days), so I'll keep you posted on those!! Thanks!