A couple days before our interview, I had absolutely no idea who Phillip Phillips was, except what my friends had filled me in on: his big break was on American Idol, he had a couple of viral hits. Not much to go off of. But as I burrowed through the internet to research the guy, I came to understand what his life had been like for the past few years––rough and relentless.
Phillip Phillips looked more than confident—– you could tell he was having fun. If Collateral was Phillips getting outside of himself, miles beyond the wistful folk-pop we’ve come to know him for, then his performance last Thursday at the Beacon Theatre for Bud Light’s One Night Only was a journey into his newly formed sound: untethered, stomping the terrain between slick bluesy rhythms and robust rock and roll swagger.