New Artist Christian O’Conner Performs

By Rebekah Skeens

On February 27, 2018

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Christian O’Connor hopes to live release his third album.
Photo Courtesy of Caleb Zopp

Rising artist Christian O’Connor performed for the first time at Concord University. Student Activities organized the event, bringing O’Connor’s acoustic set and 24/7 Tour to the Subway Stage on Tuesday, Feb. 20. The event began with musical artist Anthony Cubbage followed by O’Connor at 8 p.m.

Andrew Sulgit, student union director, was extremely excited to bring O’Connor to Concord. As a fellow musician, he feels it is important to bring up and coming artists to campus. When O’Conner approached Sulgit about possibly performing, Sulgit says he did not want to miss the opportunity, especially as O’Conner was someone who had not performed at Concord before.

Christian O’Connor was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he learned the art of music. He began playing at an early age after his parents pushed him to take classical lessons. At the time he hated it, but he is now glad he had the experience to grow from. He abandoned playing music for several years but took it up again as a teenager.

During his high school years, he found a love in Led Zeppelin. “The great rock and roll awakening happened.” He says that “buying a Led Zeppelin catalog and getting into other artists” is what officially began his musical career and made him obsessed with making music.

Throughout his life, he played small gigs whenever he could get a spot. In his teens, he travelled to Nashville and would try sharing his music with anyone who would listen. Sometimes he found success, but occasionally he struggled to get his music out to the public.

His first official performance opportunity arrived at the age of 19, when he was given the chance to play guitar and keyboard for artist Jennifer Paige. He was able to tour off and on with her for approximately two years. Around this time, he did session work, performing in a lot of studios for local artists.

When Christian finished touring, he started playing at several NASCAR races, where he performed in the fan stage area. For years, he toured across the United States playing at several NHRA and NASCAR arenas. During this time, he had several songs featured on NFL networks and NASCAR online racing games.

Shortly after this, he finally recorded his first album “Dogma Dharma, Grace and Karma.” Currently, O’Connor has two albums released, the other titled “Wine Over Water / Blood over Wine.” He says he is in the process of producing music, and he hopes that a new album will be released later this year. Potentially, this album could be a live release, which is something he has not tried before.

Anthony Cubbage opened for O’Conner at his Concord performance. He performed several originals as well as covers of songs from artists like Ed Sheeran. Though Cubbage was not the main act, O’Conner shared how he was certainly a difficult act to follow.

Christian O’Connor’s performance left audience members stunned with his Bob Marley covers and creative original “It’s Killing Me.” His acoustic set, accompanied by Cubbage, was one to remember. His soft rock tone kept audience members engaged and interacting throughout the show. Between songs, he interacted with audience members and was delighted by their response to his music.

The audience was small, but once students and community members arrived, no one left until the end of the show. After he performed, $100 in flex was given away to an audience member who held the lucky ticket of the night.

Christian believes that the best ways to find his music is through iTunes and Spotify. This is where he promotes and shares most of his music. YouTube is also a great place to check out his songs and watch his music videos for “Down” and “Something to Believe In.” Christian O’Connor can also be found on social media and may be contacted through these accounts.