throwback thursday: leanna firestone’s least favorite only child tour leg #2

thursday, december 7th 2024 • boston, massachusetts • the paradise rock club

Leanna Firestone is one of those artists that once you’ve heard of her and especially if you’ve seen her live, she sticks in your mind and you often find yourself thinking about her. Take me for example; I’m a hardcore kid at heart, it’s my go to genre and the one you can find me listening to almost 24/7. Leanna Firestone is most definitely not hardcore music, but there’s just something about her charismatic personality, her sheer talent as a musician and her very apparent passion that makes me keep coming back to her.

One of the last shows that I attended in 2023 was her tour at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, Massachusetts and that concert still stays prevalent in my mind. The sense of community that came from the environment created by all of the artists and the fans attending was a very sweet and raw thing to experience. I remember leaving the show happily and eagerly awaiting her return, which is coming up in the next few weeks.*

Leanna Firestone. The coolest name ever. She’s a singer songwriter from Cookeville, Tennessee who is now based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A lot of her sound comes from indie pop, alternative and country influences. She has been publishing music since 2020, but started started posting covers of songs onto Youtube in 2016. She started with 5 Second of Summer’s beautiful song “Ghost of You.” Her first Ep, titled Y/N, was released in May of 2021; her one and only full length album Forward/Slash, was released on February 24th, 2022. Her most recent release was an Ep titled Good Grief that was released in June of 2023. Like every other artist on this tour, Tik Tok and social media really played a massive role in getting her name out there into the world and widely spreading her music. Her know singles consist of “Diet Coke” (2021), “You Just Didn’t Like Me That Much” (2022), “Smitten” (2022), “Strawberry Mentos” (2020), and “10:15” (2021).”

In the spring of 2023, pop punk legends New Found Glory embarked on an acoustic tour titled ‘Make the Most of It!’ and had Leanna as their one and only opener (for a pop punk band, having less than three openers is a shock). That tour exposed fans from different genres to her and vise versa. This is actually how I discovered her; photographing the ‘Make the Most of It!’ tour back in March of 2023 in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Leanna Firestone has a spark and energy about her that is extremely contagious and drew me in the first time I ever saw her. I’m usually not the biggest listener to this type of music, but I instantly became a fan and have seen her twice in the past year. She has a way with words and is able to take difficult and sad experiences and turn them into powerful anthems and songs for others to have and relate to. Her liveliness comes through so well in her music that in her live performances she seems even more bubbly than in recordings. Her joy and vigor are so compelling that everyone definitely left that show with a smile on their face.

MY FAVORITE SONG: “Two Week Notice” (2021)

Abby Cates is a singer songwriter from Cincinnati, Ohio but is now based in Nashville, Tennessee. She started performing in musicals at the age of seven and not only can she sing, but she can play multiple instruments including the guitar, piano and the ukulele. In 2018, at only 17 years old, she auditioned for The Voice and made it on, joined Team Kelly until she was unfortunately eliminated right before the Top 13. By posting covers of songs as well as snippets of her own work on social media like Instagram and Tik Tok, it has given her a place to get exposure and spread her sound and name out on the internet.

Abby attributes the outdoors to being one of the things she finds most of her inspiration from. Her debut single “Roadtripsong” was released in June of 2021. She currently has not released any Eps or albums yet, but has been feature on Cody Fry’s “Things You Said” off of the album The End (2023). Known singles of hers consist of “Better Friends” (2021), “saw ur mom at the grocery store” (2021), “Lawrence” (2022), and “April Fools” (2023). Her most recent released single is “Rainbowfish” that was released on August 11th, 2023.

MY FAVORITE SONG: “Better Friends” (2021)

Loren Gray is a 21 year old singer from Pottstown, Pennsylvania who know resides Los Angeles. For a while, she was best known for her Musical.ly career that started in 2015 (now Tik Tok). She was the most followed created from March 31st, 2019 until the next year on March 25th, 2022. She was signed to Virginia Records for roughly three years, but is now an independent artist. Now being an independent artist she has a lot more creative freedom, and joy in general, that she mentioned during her set.

Loren’s debut single “My Story “ was released in 2018 that, according to her, is based on a friend who ‘kept falling in love with the wrong people.’ Her first album is titled Guilty and was released on April 21st, 2023. Other well known singles from her are “Queen” (2018), “Anti-Everything” with Lost Kings in 2019, “Nobody to Love” with TELYKAST in 2021. Her most recent release its single “Breadcrumbs” with Hayes Warner that was released on November 17th, 2023.

MY FAVORITE SONG: “Breadcrumbs” with Hayes Warner (2023)

Sydney Rose is an 18 year old Georgia singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who can play the piano, guitar and the ukulele. In her music she tends to challenge confusion, loneliness, sadness and anxiety. She is currently signed to Public Consumption record label. When she was younger she used to be apart of her local church youth band as well as chorus and theater during school. She takes a lot of inspiration from artists like Jodie, Phoebe Bridgers (known to be her favorite artist), Bon Iver, The 1975, Cavetown, and the likes. Like the artists mentioned above, Tik Tok has really helped her circulate her name and get her music out there online, especially during the pandemic when everyone was on Tik Tok and spreading things there.

Her covers of “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, “Turning Page” by Sleeping at Last, and “Feeling Whitney” by Post Malone really helped her make a name for herself. She had two Eps released in 2022, You Never Met Me (July 8th, 2022), and This Kind of Thing Does’t Last (November 11th, 2022). Her first album One Sided was released in November of 2023 and features singles “You’d Be Stars (feat. chloe moriondo)” and “Cool Girl.”

MY FAVORITE SONG: her cover of “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, (2020)