Getting Vertigo: EDEN World Tour Chicago

Written by Miranda Coffee. Media by Miranda Coffee and Whitney Nichols.


Media by Miranda Coffee and Whitney Nichols.

Imagine being at a sold-out show for your favorite artist. The lights are all off, the crowd is buzzing with excitement, and you can feel your heart beating wildly in your chest. Suddenly, music starts playing softly; a swelling note flows through the entire building. Someone gets on stage, and you scream along with everyone else. This is the moment you have been waiting for.

EDEN came to Chicago, Illinois, on March 24 and 25 for his world tour, promoting his new album, “vertigo.” He performed in the House of Blues and completely sold out the venue. He then had an acoustic performance and signing at the Shuga record store in downtown Chicago for those who wanted to see more. I had the amazing opportunity to go to both of these events and I had an absolute blast.

Media by Miranda Coffee and Whitney Nichols.

EDEN, known personally as Jonathon Ng, is a singer, songwriter, and producer from Dublin, Ireland. He first started out as the EDEN Project in 2013. He dropped the name in 2015, created his own record label, and started making music as EDEN from then on. EDEN has released a total of seven EPs since 2013. His first official album, “vertigo,” was released on January 19, 2018. Ng wrote, performed, produced, and mixed all of the music personally on the album, which is a huge accomplishment for the artist.

Media by Miranda Coffee and Whitney Nichols.

The vertigo world tour consists of 44 dates in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. EDEN was in Chicago for the weekend of March 24 and 25 and performed every song on the “vertigo” album and even included some older favorites from past EPs including the songs “rock + roll,” “Fumes,” and “End Credits.” EDEN also performed a completely new unreleased song called “Fake Love.” The crowd sang along to every single song. Coming together in one building to see one man on stage and share the love of music was truly an incredible experience I will not soon forget.

On Sunday, March 25, EDEN performed at the Shuga record store in Chicago for an acoustic performance and signing. He performed older favorites requested by the smaller, intimate crowd such as “XO” and “Catch Me If You Can.” After forgetting a few chords and laughing along with Ng, we all lined up again for the signing. With CDs, posters, and vinyl records in hand, everyone had the chance to meet Ng and get some things signed. I had the cover of my CD signed and had a fun little talk with Ng when I met him. He’s a very sweet and genuine person that I wish I could know better. I even gave him a letter that I wrote to thank him for everything he had done and wished him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Media by Miranda Coffee and Whitney Nichols.

Another student from Greenville was lucky enough to be at the concert in Chicago. My friend, Victoria Han Hong, came along with me to experience the entire weekend. We listened to the “vertigo” album on the car ride to Chicago and back to Greenville and went to both performances together.

For the Sunday performance, we even had the chance to take over the “edenupdated” Snapchat story for the day, showing all of the followers what we were doing and share the performance with them. It was a really cool thing we were lucky enough to do. When asking Han Hong about her experience, she told me, “my favorite part of the experience was meeting him [Ng] in person and being able to sing along to my favorite song when he performed it. My favorite song is “Love; not wrong (brave).”

Overall, EDEN definitely did not disappoint when it came to his performance. There is a certain feeling you get when you’re at a concert with a thousand other people, singing the same songs for a thousand different reasons and meanings. The beauty of music can really pull people together in a wonderful way. EDEN’s music is very nice to listen to and even more exciting when you can find the deeper meaning behind the lyrics, instrumentals, and voice.

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