Chris Olsen and Ryan Trainer kicked off their “Club Chris Tour” in Silver Spring, Maryland, with the proceeding date in Philadelphia, Pa. at The Fillmore on March 7. I had the opportunity to attend the “Club Chris Tour” in Philadelphia with a friend of mine, and it was nothing like any other show I’ve attended, which is what makes the “Club Chris Tour” unique.
The Fillmore is a 2,500-capacity GA club-style venue with lots of sights within the building, such as dazzling chandeliers, a Jimi Hendrix-inspired VW bus right outside the main show area, a giant “LOVE” sign, and so much more. Overall, this smaller venue is fairly intimate and has an abundance of charm, making it a lovely spot to catch a show in Philadelphia.
Trainer and Olsen had alternating sets throughout the show, which was such a fun and exciting way to lay out the show. This approach reminded me of the “SWEAT” tour, featuring Charli XCX and Troye Sivan.
Trainer opened the show shortly after 7:30 p.m. with a set under his DJ name, “Nepo Baby.” The name is inspired because people on the internet called Trainer a nepo baby due to his sister being pop star Meghan Trainer.
The two had alternating sets starting at 7:30 and going until just before 10 p.m. Olsen did three “acts” throughout the show and in between the “acts,” Trainer would have DJ sets, and play pop artists such as Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, and Lemonade Mouth. At the start of Trainer’s set, he facetimed Meghan Trainer and allowed the crowd to interact with her; where she blew kisses and waved to the fans. The most notable thing about Trainer’s set was Trainer coming down into the pit and singing and dancing with fans. This being something that artists typically don’t do, this was such a surreal experience, as I had the opportunity to be face-to-face with Trainer during “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo.
Olsen had three acts similar to what you would see quite commonly in a theater production. Olsen opened up the show by singing show tunes, starting the show with a song from Les Miserables, and talking to the crowd, with one fan in the crowd having a “daddy” sign, as that was a popular series Olsen had been going on his TikTok when he saw Harry Styles multiple times and did the same thing until Styles noticed him. However, as this venue was not a Styles show size, he noticed the fan right away and interacted with her.
His second act consisted of Olsen singing “redacted” versions of Disney Songs; where he sang Disney songs for around 30 seconds, and then cut it off before he would get copyrighted by the company. However, the highlight of this act was a combined performance with Trainer of “Popular” from Wicked, which featured Olsen putting green face paint on Trainer to resemble Elphaba.
The third and final act was certainly taking the show in a more serious direction. Olsen briefly talked about his childhood and how grateful he was to finally have a good relationship with his sister, as they were not very close throughout adolescence. He then talked about how appreciative he was to have the opportunity to be able to go on this tour and just generally make people happy.
“The childhood version of myself is the most confident version,” Olsen said while recounting a compilation of old home videos of him and his sister that he showed the crowd. He expressed how performing is an ode to his younger self, and a “you did it” to his teenage and early adult self who didn’t think he would be around to see this happen.
He then ended his show singing “The One That Got Away” by Katy Perry, which left many fans in tears, hugging whoever they came to the show with. Trainer ended his final set with “Good Riddance” by Green Day, which left me crying as I have deep emotional ties to that song.
Overall, it could be felt by the crowd that this was such a monumental moment for the pair. They truly put on a show in Philadelphia. The duo’s final performance on this tour will be in Anaheim California on April 6.
