Our favorite wandering troubadour Stephen Sanchez finally returned to Arizona with an appearance on the (fictional) Connie Co Show at Arizona Financial Theatre this week. The impeccably dressed crooner was joined by The Brook & the Bluff for a show that took the captivated audience back in time with Sanchez’s special sound.
The Brook & the Bluff were introduced by Connie Co- the show’s host for the evening- and hyped up for the audience to really fall in love at first song. The indie-folk group is still touring in support of last year’s full-length album and their effortlessly cool charm utterly entranced the audience from the very beginning of the set. Their time onstage was brief- too much so if the audience’s shrieks were any indication- as they ran through “Misnomer”, “Rush” and closed out with “Are You Lonesome”. It was the ideal warmup for the rest of the night and as the stage transformed for the second act, The Brook & the Bluff walked away with an army of new Arizona fans.
Our charming host Connie Co returned with his winning smile and good humor to bring Stephen Sanchez to the stage for a long-awaited reunion with his fans. Armed with signs and hearts in their eyes, the collective audience practically shook the venue with their cheering. Sanchez was just as delighted as his crowd and delivered a performance that had us scratching our heads as to why he doesn’t have his name in lights yet.
Not to worry- he built his own marquee and a TV studio to go with it. His timeless voice and vintage aesthetic transformed the stage into a set from 1964 as he wistfully sang to “Evangeline” to start the night- and made more than a few ladies in the audience swoon. With his perfect blend of yearning and just a touch of cocky self-assurance, it’s easy to fall right into obsession with both Sanchez and his songs.
He threw in a duo of perfectly timed covers with Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” and Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head on my Shoulder”. Both were a showcase of Sanchez’s stellar vocal prowess, alongside his own tunes like “Be More” and “Hey Girl”.
The show took a brief intermission when Sanchez sat down with Connie Co to talk about his favorite songs and play a little game of This or That. With a single red rose in hand, Sanchez sauntered into a soft, relaxed rendition of “Fame or Fortune” before the party continued on. He’s had some solid success by way of TikTok these last few years, with “High” propelling him to new heights (pun absolutely intended).
The set concluded with the viral smash hit “Until I Found You” before the venue had a chance to “Shake” things up to end the night. Sanchez has graduated to bigger venues since his last tour and his rafter-reaching voice is certainly worthy of those higher ceilings. The fans have returned again and again to shower him with love and, with new music hopefully on the way, we’ll be seeing much more of Sanchez’s inevitable rise to the top.
