The Hype: Hoodie Allen, Myles Parrish and Luke Christopher

At Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto

On a rainy, but warm November Saturday night, Hoodie Allen came to Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre and the crowd went wild!

Hoodie Allen, aka Steven Markowitz, brought along a few friends for good measure, and Myles Parrish and Luke Christopher were the perfect warm-up for the Long Island, New York alt-hip-hop singer.

The first performer up was Myles Parrish who showed up with his DJ and immediately got the crowd jumping, waving their hands and singing along.

The 25-year-old is a seasoned performer and I marvelled at his ability to pull the audience in from the outset. The music comes across as fun and bouncy and Myles stepped it up when he asked the crowd how they felt about 1956 and then proceeded to twist and do a little hand shuffle. It was fun well received. And make no mistake there were definitely Myles Parrish fans in the crowd, everyone up front was singing along.

Luke Christopher took the stage at 8:40 and won me over. He's got the best dimples and his tone is deep and rich and when he sang his hit Lot to Learn everyone in the place agreed that if he was the question, they'd be the answer.

The 24-year-old from LA kept up a dizzying pace and covered the stage and engaged with the crowd making everyone happy. He was charming and his lyrics were inviting and entertaining.

There was a small gap in the scheduled performances and audience waited patiently for the headliner. The second Hoodie Allen stepped foot on stage, his fans went wild. There was singing, screaming, ladies throwing their undergarments at the rapper and he ate it up.

Note: I have to admit that I was asked, with a gesture from the singer, to pass him a bra which hadn't quite made it to the stage. That's a first for me.