'Where Do We Go Now?:' Erie's First To Eleven hits road for East Coast tour

Erie's own First to Eleven is hosting a special show in Erie, bringing their "Where Do We Go Now?" tour home.

The Erie-based cover band kicked off their tour in April bringing their music to a number of major cities, including St. Louis, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. First to Eleven's band that performs original music without Ryan Krysiak, Concrete Castles, released their most recent album "Brand New Me" in August 2023.

"We’re doing a few more cities, a few bigger rooms and kind of hitting some markets we never touched on before," said Audra Miller, the band's lead vocalist. "Our last tour was pretty much just the East Coast and now we’re doing more of the East Coast and making our way into the Midwest a little bit."

During the Erie show April 26 at BigBar, 14 E. 10th St., the band will partner up with another Erie band, Daytona Beach, and local musician Brooke Surgener.

More: Concrete Castles (Erie's First to Eleven) touring with 1st album of originals, writing 2nd

The show at BigBar was a good fit for the band as it was scheduled close to their show in Pittsburgh.

“It kind of worked out that we already had a show booked at BigBar and it was in the tour, so I was like, 'Oh, we’re going to have to cancel that,'" said Ryan Krysiak, the band's bass guitarist. "Then I was looking at it and that was at the end of the tour and we’re in Pittsburgh the night before. It was like, why don’t we make it happen in Erie? We will keep that show and Daytona Beach has been doing really well at BigBar, as was First to Eleven, so let’s combine them and let’s go hard for this one show."

Preparing for tour and shows

Since 2023, First to Eleven has been pumping out cover songs aiming to add one cover a week to their repertoire.

These cover songs get uploaded to YouTube which help the band decide what the fans like and want to hear so they can create the setlists for tour.

More: From teen rockers to YouTube stars: Erie's First to Eleven at 1 million fans and growing

"It’s very random; it used to be top 40 songs at the beginning of our YouTube career," Miller said. "Once we started doing one cover a week it got a little easier because if one cover doesn’t do as well it’s okay because you have one coming out next week instead of a month later. So now it’s like we listen to the fans, and if there’s something they like, it’s like okay I guess we’ll try it. And if it’s a song we do that does really well we will do something in a similar genre or by a similar artist, or sometimes we will throw in random stuff that we want to try and see if it works."

From the setlist, the band then determines where the show goes from the perspective of the audience.

"For a longer bar show we will play for three hours so we have to pull out pretty much everything," Krysiak said. "That’s based off when you are at a bar you go through this process of like I’m just sitting and having my first drink like what do you want to hear during that set. Then a couple of drinks in you are feeling a little loose. What do you play then and what do you play at the end when you are ready to party."

One of their more popular songs that has done well with the audience, "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns N' Roses, gave them the idea for their next tour name, "Where Do We Go Now?"

"Brooke (Surgener) came up with it, but our most popular cover on YouTube is 'Sweet Child of Mine.' So she was like you should just take a lyric from that song and name your tour after it, so that’s what we did," Miller said.

First to Eleven has a setlist filled with popular songs from Nickelback to ABBA to Queen and more.

Sometimes bands, including Nickelback, have shared First To Eleven's videos to their social media pages.

When will First To Eleven be in my area?

To find if First to Eleven will be in your area, check out their website firsttoeleven.com. Each show will have its own ticket link.

The band also offers a VIP ticket option which will include early admission, a Q&A before the show and more.

Can’t make the Erie show at BigBar? First to Eleven will be in Erie this summer. The band mentions that if you show up to a show you could be featured in one of their YouTube videos.

The "Where Do We Go Now?" tour goes from April to late August.

Contact Nicholas Sorensen at Nsorensen@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie PA band First To Eleven embarks on 'Where Do We Go Now?' Tour