Grant Perez, more commonly known as grentperez, took the stage at House of Blues for the second day in a row on Tuesday, April 22. The previous night, Perez performed to a sold out general admissions crowd to kickstart his “Backflips in a Restaurant” tour.

San Diego marks the first stop of 31 cities that Perez will be performing at. The tour is dedicated to promoting his debut studio album “Backflips in a Restaurant,” which was released on March 28.

Although this is his first studio album, Perez has been in the music scene since 2021, and he has many dedicated fans with almost 3.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify. 

Claire Donguyen, a fourth-year student at University of California, San Diego, said that she has been a fan of Perez for almost five years. She said that she likes how his music is filled with love, while also paying homage to different genres and generations.  

“Even though his music is very modern, his lyricism is poetic,” Donguyen said. “It resembles music from the past like, The Carpenters. When I’m playing his music with my mom [even though] we’re both from different generations, we can both belong with his music.”   

Perez’s new album fully embodies these aspects through the “Backflips in a Restaurant” metaphor. In an interview with Apple Music he said that backflips represent him experimenting and exploring his musical style. The restaurant aspect is meant to capture the theme of romance.  

Perez brought this metaphor to life by playing Italian restaurant music as hundreds of people filled up the music hall room.

When the lights dimmed for the opener, Rocco, the crowd erupted into excited screams for the Filipino indie artist. Rocco elevated the venue’s energy with his diverse setlist that included playing unreleased songs, dancing, clapping and passionately singing the lyrics to “No One Noticed” by The Marias.  

Exiting the stage, the crowd cheered and in response, Rocco made heart gestures to signal his goodbye. 

Ahead of Perez’s appearance the stage was completely transformed — decorative house plants and lamps lined the sides of the stage. In the center, Perez’s mic was wrapped in green vines, and further back was a table that could seat two with a home-like window as the backdrop.  

The lights dimmed to a warm yellow-ish tone and the upbeat tune of  “Nice to Meet You” took over the crowd. Perez’s silhouette appeared on the window sill set up — and although he hadn’t made a full appearance yet the crowd was already screaming his name and pulling their phones out to capture the moment.  

From there, he kept the cheerful tone alive by transitioning into another upbeat song from his recent album, “Headspace.”

“Hi guys, I’m Grant, and I’m the manager of this joint,” he said, before introducing his band.

The trio, dressed in button ups, bowties and aprons, really immersed themselves into the restaurant-like atmosphere. Pointing to his right, Perez introduced his drummer, Ichi Tanabe, as the bartender. To his left was bassist and guitarist, Timi Temple, role playing as a waiter.   

For the next songs, Perez played some oldies but goodies like “Why I Love You” and “Clementine.” It was clear the crowd was filled with devoted fans as they sang along word for word.

And they weren’t just hyped for his older tracks — when he performed “Dandelion,” the chorus echoed throughout the venue as fans passionately sang it in unison.

The energy didn’t stop there, “Need You Around” picked up the pace even more. The crowd jumped to the catchy beat and laughed at the comical Japanese dialogue between Perez and Tanabe. “2DK” brought a taste of hip-hop, bass and snare to Perez’s set, before he shifted the mood back to be more romantic with “Movie Scene.”   

Emmanuel Urteaga, a first-year student at San Diego State University, said that Perez’s heartfelt melodies really resonate with him. 

“I’m a little bit of a hopeless romantic,” Urteaga said. “I think his lyrics and his music really exemplify the feeling of falling in love.”  

Before playing his next track, Perez invited a couple onto the stage and seated them at the table in the center. Temple set the romantic tone by playing a violin solo to serenade the two. The crowd awed before Perez turned his mic stand to face the couple, singing “Yours to Keep” directly to them.

He turned back to the crowd to sing “12065” while the couple on stage slow-danced in the background. In the crowd, couples also embraced each other as Perez continued to sing some of his most love-filled songs like “Girl at the Station” and “Everest.”

“From the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my body, I want to say ‘mahal kita,’” Perez said after playing his romantic tracks. 

The crowd roared with excitement and chants of “Philippines.” ‘Mahal kita’ is Filipino for “I love you” and Perez, being Filipino Australian, has many fans who are proud to share the same heritage. 

Winding down his set, Perez played a mix of new songs and fan favorites “Reason Why,” “Ego,” “Cherry Wine” and “Fuzzy Feeling.” 

It was clear when he exited the stage that the crowd wasn’t ready for the concert to be over. The crowd chanted, “One more song” hoping for an encore — and Perez did not disappoint. 

He came out and performed “Silver Lining” and “When The Day Is Done” ending his second show in San Diego on a high note.