UK sensation Conor Maynard performs live in Los Angeles

Built in 1936 and in the Miracle Mile of Los Angeles stands the historic El Rey Theatre. There, on September 10th, you would have found fans lined up under a colorful illuminated marquee, patiently waiting to enter to the venue for the Continued 2022 World Tour. The tour is a double-feature consisting of R&B, soul, hip-hop and pop artist ANTH and British pop singer-songwriter Conor Maynard. The Continued 2022 Tour started in North America on September 9th in San Diego and will end on October 21st in Dublin, Ireland.

As you entered the intimate venue, with hanging red drapes along the walls and shiny chandeliers hung up top, fans were everywhere with drinks in hand, yellow pit wristbands on and good vibes all around. It was a little past 9PM when the music started to fade, the lights began to dim and the fans started to cheer, pushing closer to the front (which meant it was time for the first act to start).

Opening the show was rising hip hop artist ANTH, who currently has over 600 million views on social media.

He’s also known for collaborating with tour partner, Conor Maynard. ANTH started his 30-minute set by rushing onto the stage, which immediately got everyone jumping to the music. With such high energy in the room, you could definitely feel the connection that the fans have with ANTH’s music. During the set, he performed some of his own songs, such as “Let It Go”, “Selfish” and “If This Is Goodbye”, which had the whole room rapping and singing along. There were even some fun moments in the show where a bunch of hit songs were mixed together, including “Too Good At Goodbyes” by Sam Smith, a Bad Bunny song and “Mi Gente” by J Balvin that got everyone pumped and heads bobbing to the music. Towards the end of the first half of the set, ANTH’s high energy and smooth freestyles had the fans waving their hands to the beat while swaying back and forth. You could definitely feel that the audience wanted more.

With over five million monthly listeners on Spotify and his debut album Contrast hitting number one in the UK charts, Conor Maynard was ready to close out the night and show America why he’s here to stay. As Conor hit the stage, the fans roared and cheered as they heard a timeless classic song to start off the set — “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys. Everyone lit up the room with their smiles and sung along to every word.

At one point in the night, Conor asked if anyone came with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and told them he was dedicating the next song “Ain’t Got No Friends” to them. As time went on, more well-known songs filled the night, including “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston.

Before the next song was up, Conor picked out a girl in the crowd and said his song “For the Night” was going to be for her.

Following that was “Crowded Room”, which was the first dance type of song that could be played at a wedding. Switching to sad songs, “You Broke Me First” by Tate McRae was covered flawlessly. As the lights faded once again, the crowd was hit with another cover — this time “Careless Whisper” by George Michael. Better yet, ANTH returned to the stage to join Conor to sing their own version of the song, released last month. For the rest of the night, a bunch of big name artists were remixed together, including Panic! At The Disco, The Kid LAROI, The Weeknd, Shaggy, Christina Aguilera and Shawn Mendes.

Towards the end of the show and after that insane amount of covers, Conor paused to share a moment with the crowd. He mentioned how crazy it felt and how much it meant to him to come to these shows in the United States from such a far away place and get so much love. Closing out the show were another few songs — “Can’t Say No” and “R U Crazy”; these are two originals that started off his career, which had the crowd erupting in screams. At the end, everyone started chanting “Encore”! Conor walked back out and started singing Shakira’s, “Whenever, Wherever”. As that song ended, he thanked Los Angeles so much for coming out and supporting him, and said that they will see him again next time.

Photography by Mikayla Ragovin

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