Em Beihold Wows Crowd as Opener at Grand Ole Opry

The anticipation begins the moment you arrive at the iconic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The line of excited fans snaked all the way through the parking lot before the doors even opened. Excited whispers and peering of heads as the line inched closer and closer.

This was the first night of Lewis Capaldi’s US leg of the “Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent” tour with support from TikTok singer-songwriter Em Beihold.

To read my review on Lewis Capaldi’s set click here

Once seated in one of the pews, yes pews, I looked over to the stage and saw “Em Beihold” on the bass head of the drum and streaming coming off of her keyboard. As someone who is familiar with her work, I was already excited to see her perform live.

About Em Beihold

Em Beihold is an LA-born singer-songwriter; she gained the majority of her following through her vulnerable, catchy songs about mental health and relationships. She recently released her EP: Egg in The Backseat, which touched on those same topics.The 24 year old musician has already opened for acts like King Princess, AJR, and the Jonas Brothers.

The Show Begins

As soon as 8 o’clock hit, Beihold’s band was building the energy with their drums and electric guitar. The blue lights began to flash to swirl, as the fans looked around in awe. 

The opening song, “Groundhog Day,” is one Beihold recognizes as her first big hit. She sings about feeling like life is going nowhere fast – repeating it over and over again. While she did not always command the stage, she was playful and interactive with the crowd. A note that may be out of her control is that while her voice is pretty and clear, it is easy for it to get drowned out by the other instruments on stage. 

Beihold played about ten songs total, all originals, and the crowd was able to sing along to most of them. This is certainly impressive for an opening act that does not have a large catalog to start with.The use of colored lights was an easy and effective way to give the show a little more pizzazz.

“I’m nervous y’all,” Beihold said while tuning her electric ukulele before the next song, “I mean this is the Grand Ole Opry.”

A performance worth mentioning was “Spiderman”. This song felt like Beihold finally found her groove on stage. It seemed like when she was standing in front of the microphone, she was her most confident. She would frequently walk across the stage, then immediately dart to the other side. It became more like watching her race around then perform. Still, her fun personality and great lyrics made the show fun. This was a song I was unfamiliar with but became a new favorite!

Beihold closed her set out with her viral single, “Numb Little Bug.” As of June 2022, the track had already garnered over 200 million streams and has shown no signs of slowing down. This one was by far the most polished, since she has performed this song more than the others on the set list.

It’s obvious she has the passion and talent of a strong performer, and that’ll only grow as she continues to tour and connect with new fans.