Alex & Sierra w/ Paradise Fears and Rachel Platten at Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (29 Mar 2015)

Rachel Platten

Starting at 5:30pm, New York City-based singer/songwriter Rachel Platten (along with drummer Craig Meyer) started off the evening with a very brief 25-min set, including her new single "Fight Song" (which climbed iTunes' Top 100 chart after appearing in the Christmas episode of Pretty Little Liars).

The four songs ("Congratulations", "Lone Ranger", "Work Of Art", and "Fight Song") were previews of what is in store for us when she finally release her debut album for Columbia Records, expected to be out sometime this year.

Paradise Fears

South Dakota's Paradise Fears was a lot of fun. Although the band is young, you can tell they've been touring a lot… often working on the crowd to get them to participate in their songs. My favorite moment from their 30-min set was for "Back To Life", they taped a random girl in the audience saying her name "Leah" (which, coincidentally enough was also the name of singer Sam Miller's sister.) The word "Leah" was then looped throughout the song.

Paradise Fears' latest single is called "Who We Were With"… their first release through Nashville label DigSin.

Since winning the third and final season of The X Factor USA, Alex & Sierra (Alex Kinsey and Sierra Deaton) have signed with Columbia Records and released their debut album It's About Us last year.

The two are currently on their 2015 "The Good Guys & A Girl Tour", with Andy Grammer.

As you can see from their setlist, they played selected tracks from their debut album, including set finale "Scarecrow".

Other highlight from their set included throwing in Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Britney Spears' "Toxic".

NOTE: We normally cover all the bands, but unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, we had to miss Andy Grammer. Grammer's out on tour in support of his latest, Magazines Or Novels, available now via S-Curve Records.

Remaining Andy Grammer tour dates: