Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jesse Larson and his musical friends at his first solo show, held earlier this month in Minneapolis.

You might say Jesse Larson is having one heck of an August.

In a span of a little more than a week, the fourth-place finisher from The Voice Season 12 released his first single, sang the national anthem at a pre-season NFL game and played his first solo show ever.

The national anthem gig came Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Jesse performed prior to the Minnesota Vikings pre-season game with the 49ers in front of a crowd of about 66,000.

The crowd wasn’t quite that large for his first solo show, but as you can see from the photo above, he was playing in front of a packed house at First Avenue & 7th St in Minneapolis.

As a special treat, he invited fellow Minnesotan Kat Perkins, also a former Voice standout, to join him on stage for a performance of “I’d Rather Go Blind.”

“The room was filled with joy and love,” Jesse wrote on Facebook. “For this to be my first solo show ever, well it’s gonna be hard to top it.”

As for the single, it’s called “Hollywood Haze” and landed on iTunes Aug. 21. Here’s betting it’s at least partly inspired by Jesse’s time on The Voice.

You’ll recall that pre-Voice, Jesse managed an auto parts store until the late Prince called, wanting him to work on Judith Hill’s post-Voice debut album. He also played guitar and sang as part of a band called MPLS that specialized in soul, R&B and hip-hop music.

How has life changed for Jesse since The Voice? Jesse answered that question during a recent appearance on The Jason Show in Minneapolis.

“I’d always been a side man before the show,” Jesse said, referring to his pre-show days as a musician. “I was always the guy hiding in the back. That was my reality.

“Fast forward two months later and my reality has changed. I can no longer be the guy hiding in the back. I went from
‘nobody knows who I am’ to going to the gas station and people want to take pictures with you.”

Oh, and Jesse is also working on a new album.

Meanwhile, here’s the new single.