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Laith Al-Saadi Makes His Return To Ann Arbor With A Live Show At Liberty Plaza

Sonic Lunch on Facebook

Ann Arbor’s own guitar virtuoso Laith Al-Saadireturned to the city to for his first live performance since receiving national acclaim on NBC’s ‘ The Voice’.

          

The performance was Al-Saadi’s first in Ann Arbor since becoming a finalist on the show. The television show has earned him plenty of new fans, including Denise Walter and Cheryl Miller, who traveled from Manchester and Hamburg to catch his lunchtime set downtown.

 

Walter says,

 

" I am like his biggest fan from ‘The Voice’ That’s how I got to know him, even though I had seen his name in the papers and everywhere to go see him at the bars and I thought, “well, not gonna go [to that].” But, after I had seen him the first time [on television] I knew that he would be in the top.” :21

Al-Saadi’s appearance on the NBC show has even earned him new fans from across the border. Joan, who did not want to use her last name, lives in Canada. She says, as luck would have it, she's currently visiting family in Ann Arbor today.  “No we couldn’t vote because we are Canadian, so we’re not allowed to vote. Our daughter-in-law, who lives in town here, she would vote for Laith all the time," she says.

Al-Saadi’s mix of blues, rock, and soul is especially unique for a show like ‘The Voice’. Before taking the stage at Liberty Plaza, he said his brush with national fame has definitely changed his current life.   He says,“Things have been great. They’ve been hectic and, you know, kind of adjusting to new life, but I’m very excited about the future and what it represents.”

The Sonic Lunch concert series is a weekly event in Ann Arbor from June through August. You can catch Al-Saadi’s next local show at the Michigan Theatre on Friday July, 8.

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— Amanda LeClaire is a reporter and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News.  Contact her at 734.487.3363 or email her aleclair@emich.edu

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