Nick Barilla has played at the Hard Rock Café in Pittsburgh multiple times before, but this particular show was special.
Barilla, a California University of Pennsylvania graduate in December of 2014, headlined the show at the Hard Rock Café. The importance of the event was for the release of his upcoming album Learning To Live, which was supposed to come out this April, but has been pushed back to a June release.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the material I had, so I went back to the drawing board,” Barilla said. “I’m confident we will get the full length record out by June.”
Barilla, who majored in communication studies with a minor in vocal performance, enlisted Cal U band, Hear Tonight, to be one of his opening acts. Also opening up for him was 19-year old singer Victoria Morgan and Barilla’s good friend, and music partner, Dan Swank. The event was hosted by Mossdeep Entertainment.
Hear Tonight, which normally has five members, only had three members play at the Hard Rock. Members that played were Cal U students Stephen Grzenda, Evan Yester, and Shane Turner. Their additional members of the band are Jake Urbanek, who is also at Cal U, and Will Ulmer, who is a junior at Ohio State University. Grzenda and Turner are juniors while Yester is a senior, who will be graduating this spring. Hear Tonight and Barilla have a good relationship together, according to both sides.
“Hear Tonight is my favorite local band, hands down,” Barilla said. “When I listen to music I can tend to be picky, there are only a handful of artists I truly take a liking to; that’s not to say I don’t appreciate what other musicians do, but I like what I like. It’s even cooler that there is this much music coming out of Cal U.”
“I think what the Commercial Music Technology program is doing for Cal U is really going to start to be seen locally and nationally hear in the coming years,” Barilla continued. “Hear Tonight bassist Jake Urbanek actually produced and mixed two of the songs from my new record, “Savannah” and “First Sight”. Drummer Evan Yester played drums on both those recordings.”
When it came to playing at the Hard Rock, both sides were excited to play in front of the large crowd. About 70 people were in attendance at the show. It wasn’t the first time that either group played at the Hard Rock. Barilla has opened up for musicians, like Lee DeWyze, at the Hard Rock and on the day of the show, it was the two year anniversary that Grzenda and Turner formed the band and played their first show together at the Hard Rock.
“Hard Rock Cafe feels like home to us,” Turner, who is the lead singer. “We’ve played there a good number of times, and every time has been enjoyable. It’s an indescribable feeling to see and hear people sing along to the songs that you helped create.”
“Playing at the Hard Rock Cafe is great,” Yester, the drummer, said. “There is always an energetic crowd that really seems to get into our music.”
Fans can see Barilla and Hear Tonight live again whenever they play at the Raise Your Voice Festival in Monessen on April 30. To keep in touch with the Cal U musician and band, you can follow them on social media (@NickBarillaLive and @HearTonightBand).