Photos by: Abigail McNatt
Review by: Chris “Oberrated” Ober
A “long” six months ago, Aly & AJ came through Pittsburgh on their Silver Deliverer tour. It was my first time seeing the duo in a long time after obsessively listening to them in my younger days. That show inspired me to dive deeper into their discography, and their newer music is nothing short of special. Now after that wonderful night of rekindled passion for their music, Aly & AJ returned to Pittsburgh after a brief time and brought their Places to Run Tour along with them.
Supporting Aly & AJ was the young country artist Hayden Blount. Hayden is an up-and-coming artist that’s only been running the music circuit since about 2023. To say that he is making waves would be an understatement. Pushing over a million monthly listeners on streaming platforms, things are looking pretty good for the hard-working southern gentlemen. However, the stats aren’t a facade. Once he began playing, the crowd immediately connected with the musician and was vibing with both his original songs and covers. He brought this classic rock’n’roll/country sound with him and on top of that, this dude was no frills and no gimmicks — just straight up jamming on stage and singing his heart out. For me, it was an unexpected shining moment of the night, and it led perfectly into Aly & AJ’s headlining set.
Leading off the headlining set after a chorus of applause and cheers was Aly & AJ performing the title track off of Silver Deliverer. After a few songs, they noted that the album is very special to them so they intended to play a number of tracks from it as well as many of the classics that go undoubtedly unforgotten. For all diehard fans of the power duo, just as it was six months ago, this night quickly became something special as everyone was reminded how insanely talented Aly & AJ are in more ways than one.
I for one, was once again blown away by their voices. They are beautiful, melodic, powerful, and so soulful. The way they synchronize and harmonize is insane to witness each time. Not only that, they are synchronized in voice and performance. They lean away from the mic the same, they jam on their guitars the same, and they hit every note and every harmony with precision. It’s not only a show to simply enjoy the sounds of music with classic rock and country inspirations, but it’s also a show to witness carefully and lovingly crafted music by two individuals who become one once they hit the stage.
To wrap up the night, the “final” song was the title track of the tour, “Places to Run,” where the duo extended the chorus a few times to get the crowd chanting it back to them a handful of times and to push the energy in the building to an all-time high. After one hell of a final run of the chorus — where Aly & AJ hit notes strong enough to bust down walls — they exited the stage, leaving behind from a crowd that was deafening with applause and cheers for the inevitable encore. In no time at all, Aly was on the piano bringing in an ever-so-snide-yet melodic introduction to “Potential Breakup Song,” which transitioned into the frantically paced anthem that we all know and love and the crowd hit new decibels of loud.
Before we knew it, the night came to a close, and the iconic sisters of the music world departed the stage to yet another roaring wave of applause and cheers. With over twenty years in the business, a lot can happen to the quality of the music over that time for an artist. For Aly & AJ though, the evolution and maturity that can be seen and heard in their performances is truly admirable to experience. Especially hearing the shift from their 2000s work to the present day projects. It’s still them, it always has been, they’ve just simply evolved and matured. For myself, their performance just doesn’t get old.
Live from the Pitt 