No prep? No problem. How an Iowan played with AJR at Wells Fargo Arena on 2-hours notice
Iowa native Andrew Hoyt said the stars aligned when he got a call from LiveNation on Tuesday afternoon.
The musician grew up in Grimes. He sings, plays the ukulele and guitar, and is a substitute music teacher. With just hours before the show was scheduled to start, he became the opening act for AJR at Wells Fargo Arena.
Why did Andrew Hoyt only get a few hours notice to play with AJR in Des Moines?
AJR's original opener was Dean Lewis, an Australian singer and songwriter. Lewis posted on his Instagram Story the day of the show saying:
"I am currently sitting in the ER with a suspected concussion […] I am not going to be able to perform my show for you tonight opening for" AJR.
Lewis later posted that he had an accident with a bench press in a hotel gym before the show, but would be OK. His absence left a hole in the show.
LiveNation started making calls. Hoyt said he was on a run downtown, and he's lucky he heard the call.
"As we're talking I'm actively walking to my car," Hoyt said he told the caller. "I said I can be there in 15 minutes."
How musician Andrew Hoyt went from self-made to center stage at Wells Fargo Arena
Hoyt doesn't even have a manager, he said. After getting the invitation, he called his girlfriend for outfit advice and threw some merch in a bag. He barely made sound check and he didn't even have a written setlist.
"There's so much noise," he said. "I was like, 'I gotta remember what to say.'"
After a pep talk from his girlfriend backstage and only two hours from when he got the phone call, Hoyt entered the spotlight and performed in front of more than 4,000 people. Before this, he said his largest crowd was maybe 2,000.
Hoyt called the experience, "mind-blowing," and before his last song, he made a call to his mom on stage.
Hoyt said by the end of his act, it felt like a show of 12 people, but more importantly, it felt like home.
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: AJR opener Andrew Hoyt had 2 hours to get to Wells Fargo Arena
