Quinn XCII & ASH @ stubb’s waller creek amphitheater – Austin, TX

Quinn XCII set out on a thirty-six date tour across Europe and the United States with dream-pop singer Ashe in tow. Opening the show with feet bare and long blonde hair flying, Ashe bounces onto the stage with an energy that’s contagious. Having just released an EP, Moral of the Story: Chapter 1, which details with heartbreaking honesty the fallout and complications of a recent divorce, Ashe would seem fit to be full of melancholy as she laments, “if you leave anyway, then you never meant it,” on her single “Bachelorette,” but that notion is quickly dispelled.

She giggles between songs, even going so far as convincing the crowd to engage her antics—making call and response puking noises at the cloying humidity that precedes the incoming rainstorm. “You guys have given her too much power,” her drummer comments at one point, as she dances around gleefully. From her lighthearted collaboration with Louis the Child “Right To It” to a piano ballad cover of “Pursuit of Happiness,” Ashe’s repertoire is as diverse as her facial expressions and dance moves. They’re equally funny and endearing, interrupted with frequent hair flips and t-shirt fanning to cool off. By the time she takes a final bow, the crowd is loosened up and ready for more.

It’s the final night of the From Tour With Love run, and Mike Temrowski, better known by his acronymic moniker Quinn XCII, is determined to go out with a bang. A yellow clock lights up the LED wall backing the stage with three minutes counting down to a slot machine style reel of cities that lands to read “From Austin With Love” as he takes the stage to the sound of thunderous applause.

The crowd is a mix made up of mostly college students, though many younger fans line the barricade as supervising parents line deck a safer distance away from the blaring speakers. Uniting them all, however, is their massive passion for the artist commanding their attention at the center of the stage. Several phones appear amidst the hands waving in the air.

Though the set is only a couple songs in, the audience is with him on every word, ready to jump at the drop of each chorus. Launching into the self-aware “Life Must Go On,” Quinn XCII sings about his anxiety, a topic that has slowly become increasingly prevalent in many of his and collaborator Jon Bellion’s songs. The tones of perseverance and living life to the fullest resonate as hundreds of voices chant “gotta keep on, be a part of the show.” The passion of his biggest fans doesn’t go unnoticed.

In January, fans of Quinn XCII were asked to submit a video of what his music meant to them for a chance for him to show up at their homes to play his new album. Winners were surprised on his cross-country promotional tour for his highly anticipated sophomore album, From Michigan With Love, in which he sat with them in living rooms and porches across America to play his new album. The dedication of his fans and the authenticity with which he communicates with him shows is palpable—the crowd almost drowns out his own voice, every word shouted into the night.

By the time Ashe reappears on stage to close out the night on their track together, everyone seems to echo the same dancing-in-the-rain sentiment: “You are right here next to me. What do you need when you have everything? You are right where you should be.”

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