Norwegian singer-songwriter returns to Waco

Sondre Lerche, pictured above, will return to Common Grounds at 7:30 p.m. Friday. This will be the Norwegian singer-songwriter’s second performance in Waco. Courtesy Photo
Sondre Lerche, pictured above, will return to Common Grounds at 7:30 p.m. Friday. This will be the Norwegian
singer-songwriter’s second performance in Waco.
Courtesy Photo

By James Herd
Reporter

Big names in music are coming to the Baylor campus.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Common Grounds welcomes back Sondre Lerche, a Norwegian singer-songwriter whose talents range from a “jazz band leader, a punk howler, a would-be Springsteen [and] a transatlantic teen idol.”

“To say I’m formally trained is giving me more credit,” Lerche said in a biography available via his official website. “I still to this day cannot read music.”

Inspired by such artists as Elvis Costello, Lerche will be performing at Common Grounds on Friday, but this isn’t his first time visiting Baylor.

“They actually contacted us a second time for him to play here this week,” said Wes Butler, the live events coordinator for Common Grounds. “We had him here once before, we just kind of took a shot in the dark just to see if we could get him. He was doing a specific tour, I think, where he was looking for small venues, so he committed to being here and we had a great turnout.”

Lerche views the live recording as more valuable than the mastered studio track, which is how he chose to record his latest album “Bootlegs.”

“This was the first time I had actually felt excited upon hearing a recording of one of my shows,” Lerche said in a press release. “For once the recording felt more inspired than the actual performance had felt at the time. There’s no separation, only two tracks: one is the board, the other is the room. The crowd is enthusiastic but easily distracted and rowdy; it’s a Saturday night in Norway. This is as close to the feeling of actually being up on stage as I’ll ever get on a record.”

“It’s fun to be a place where artists love to play at and love to come back. We’ve had some success with that recently,” Butler said in reference to Lerche returning to Waco for a second run.

Tickets for the show are $15 in advance, or $17 at the show.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting Common Grounds, or by going online to www.CommonGroundsWaco.EventBrite.com.