With 6.3 million monthly listeners, American boy band Why Don’t We used to (and still does) dominate the hearts of many fans worldwide. Unfortunately, due to an only recently concluded lawsuit, the band has not been making music together since 2022. At the moment, the five members are pursuing their own careers. One of these ex-Why Don’t We members is singer-songwriter Jonah Marais. Born and raised in a small town in Minnesota, the singer went on his first-ever solo European tour this year. On the 2nd of May, he played the final show of this tour in Amsterdam’s Melkweg.
The doors for the approximately 50 fans who had VIP tickets opened at 18:30, with Marais coming out to greet them and play some acoustic songs a couple of minutes later. Marais’ tour guitarist, Isaac Levy, joined him in the circle that had formed in the middle of the Oude Zaal to play the songs on the acoustic guitar. Marais treated these fans to acoustic versions of his songs ‘Better Place’ and ‘Heaven’, and one of Why Don’t We’s songs, ‘Come to Brazil’. The latter was especially an unexpected one, much to the satisfaction of everyone in attendance. After taking the time to answer fans’ questions during a Q&A and meeting everyone individually, Marais went backstage so the doors could open for the rest of the ticket holders to come in. As the VIP portion of the night had run a little late, the doors to the venue opened around 19:45 rather than 19:30. Fortunately, this meant the fans only had to wait about fifteen minutes for the first support act to take to the stage.
At 20:00, American singer-songwriter Zia Victoria Uehling came on stage. On Valentine’s Day this year, she and Marais revealed they were dating, and it was very wholesome of him to give her this opportunity to be his opener. Uehling did not go on stage alone, but with a little dog plushie called Oli, which she put on her keyboard. Uehling opened her set with the song ‘Collarbone’, and the audience’s flashlights immediately lit up the entire room. The singer wrote this song about breaking her collarbone when she was a kid and compared this to the way worse pain of having your heart broken. A vulnerable song, she put all the raw emotions into this live version while singing every note flawlessly. She continued her set with two unreleased tracks, one of which titled ‘The Price of Being a Girl’, that she played on her guitar. In between these tracks, a few fans in the audience screamed “we love your voice”, which left Uehling very flustered as she yelled “I love you!” back. Next, she played her song ‘The Me I Know’ on the keyboard, asking the audience to hold up their flashlights halfway through and lighting up the room once more. Going back to her guitar, it was then time for a song every single member of the audience was able to fully scream along to: ‘That’s So True’ by Gracie Abrams. Finally, now that everyone was 100% hyped up, Uehling ended her set with a love song about “someone you may know”, AKA her boyfriend Jonah Marais himself. This was a more upbeat track and very adorable at the same time. Before going off stage, Uehling took the time to take a selfie with some fans on the front row.
Only about ten minutes after Zia Victoria had left the stage, it was time for the night’s second support act, SERGIO, stage name of Sergio Aguilar Calderon, Jr. Boy band fans might recognize the Mexican-American singer from his time as a member of the boy band In Real Life, which disbanded in 2020. Right from the get-go, Calderon’s set really did give solo boy band vibes. Wearing a glittery flannel, he opened his set with his single ‘Fix Me’. Like many of his songs, this track included both English as well as Spanish lyrics. He continued with an In Real Life song called ‘She Do’, which made it evident that the band definitely had its fans, as quite some people in the audience were able to sing along to it. Calderon then slowed his set down a little to sing his song ‘Proud’, teaching the audience the chorus’ lyrics that went “I just wanna make ‘em proud”. From the second chorus onwards, Calderon motioned for everyone to wave along to the beat. Afterwards, he stated how “if you have a dream, hold on tight to it” because “anything is possible”. Calderon continued by playing a cover of Ne-Yo’s ‘Miss Independent’ and his own track ‘Take Five’. Before moving on to the final song of his set, Calderon spotted a sign in the audience that said “Brady says hi” and stated how Brady (Tutton) is an old bandmate of his. Calderon ended his set with the unreleased track ‘Don’t Come Back’, which will be his next single.
Again, fans did not have to wait long before they could enjoy more live music from the night’s headliner. While the intro to ‘Slow Motion’ played, drummer Bennett Vee came on stage first to drum along to it, closely followed by guitarist and bassist Isaac Levy. As soon as Marais himself came on, he immediately launched into singing this song, which he followed up with the pop-rock track ‘TWISTED LULLABY’. He wrote this song about his insecurities and the voices in his head singing “a dark and twisted lullaby” after Why Don’t We had disbanded. The crowd eagerly sang along, and Marais motioned the microphone towards them during those exact lyrics. After these first two songs were played, Marais greeted the audience and stated how “when I was asked where I wanted to end this tour, my first answer was Amsterdam”. He continued with his track ‘REDLIGHT’ – a very fitting title for Amsterdam, and the audience enthusiastically danced and clapped along.
Marais mentioned how he had been talking to his mother earlier, who had studied abroad in Amsterdam when she was younger and came to this exact location in 1989. He took out his phone to be able to FaceTime her, letting the audience say hello to his mom, which was adorable. After putting the phone away again, Marais mentioned how he will be releasing a new EP on the 16th of May, which will include the next song on the setlist, ‘Miracle Fruit’. Afterwards, Marais talked about how Amazon Music included him on their artists to watch in 2025 list, for which he made a cover of ‘Iris’ by the Goo Goo Dolls. He played this beautiful track while flashlights lit up the room and mixed the ending with the start of his own song ‘War Paint’. He released this track while also a member of Why Don’t We, and he spoke about how “it’s like a family reunion tonight”, as he has not been touring in Europe and thus not seen any of the fans since. One fan in the audience was at that moment holding up a sign that asked for Marais to “make 16-year-old me happy” by signing her Why Don’t We hoodie, which he did right away. He then continued with a medley of ‘HEAVEN’, during which he screamed “I love you all” and “can we all just sing this together”, and Why Don’t We’s ‘8 Letters’, with the crowd waving along. After a short talk to promote the merchandise he had brought with him tonight, Marais played the track ‘H.S. PROPAGANDA’.
It was then time for a “very special moment of the show”, as Marais would be playing the next track for the first time. He wrote ‘Used to It’ together with his girlfriend Zia Victoria, who he invited onto the stage so they could sing it together. The fans clearly loved watching the couple perform, and both of them were having the time of their lives as well. Uehling moved around the stage in her flowy skirt and held the hands of some fans. At the end of the song, Uehling gave Marais a quick kiss, which he was absolutely not prepared for; it left him very flustered. “We’re going from a very happy high moment to a little therapy moment here,” he said afterwards. He spoke a little about how he’d gone through a hard time approximately three years ago, and he wrote about it in his latest single, ‘More Than Enough’. Even though it had only been released the day before, the audience already knew the lyrics and sang along as loudly as they could, especially during the chorus.
As one may have noticed by now, Marais liked to talk in between the songs quite a lot, sharing personal stories and anecdotes to introduce each one. Before playing a cover of Justin Bieber’s ‘One Less Lonely Girl’, he explained how he had seen the singer live at Jingle Ball ages ago, and that moment meant so much to him that he wanted to perform one of Bieber’s songs live. Halfway through the song, Marais invited SERGIO onto the stage to sing the rest of the song together. Calderon brought two red roses with him and gave one to Marais, so that he could, in turn, give it to a fan. Calderon left again as soon as the song was over, and Marais stated how he “wants [to] come ack to Amsterdam for a million more midnights with you”. Of course, the next song was ‘A MILLION MIDNIGHTS’ and the flashlights came out again. They were replaced by the fan project for ‘Better Place’, during which the audience all held up coloured hearts that said “proud of you” and “you’re our better place”. As Marais started the song with his back to the audience, he got to take this all in as soon as he turned around to face the fans, and was visibly left in awe. Marais left the stage after this track, but came back only a few seconds later to perform the encore. It consisted of only one song, a cover of Why Don’t We’s ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’. The band released this track as a collaboration with Jonas Blue right before they had to quit, so Marais and his bandmates never got to perform it live. It was a lovely, summery anthem that the night was closed off with perfectly.
