How Uker Andrew Hoyt Played a Sold-Out Arena—with Just 2 Hours’ Notice

BY NICOLAS GRIZZLE | FROM THE FALL 2024 ISSUE OF UKULELE

Andrew Hoyt’s Tuesday night plan was to go for a jog, stop by the grocery store, and then make pizza at home with his girlfriend—a nice evening by most standards. But by the end of the night, he had played to an audience of 6,000 at the largest music venue in his home state of Iowa, with many singing along to his music while he played his ukulele onstage as the opener for indie-pop group AJR. Not a bad turn of events, even if there wasn’t any pizza involved. 

It started the afternoon of April 16, when, just as he was starting his run, Hoyt received an Instagram message from a local music promoter asking if he was free for a potential gig that evening. Sure, he said, and sent the promoter a link to his music. He didn’t think too much of it, he says, until he got a call a little later from the manager for AJR—a band with 9.4 million monthly Spotify listeners—asking if he could open for them at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines in two hours; the opener, Dean Lewis, had injured himself at the
hotel gym that day and wasn’t able to play the show. Out of breath and sweaty from his exercise, Hoyt said he could be in there in 15 minutes. 

He arrived at the arena’s back entrance shortly after, and the security staff waved him in. “I park in the loading dock—rock star parking—they help me unload my stuff, and I shake hands with about 40 people, whose names I quickly forgot,” says Hoyt. He does remember how nice everyone was, however. “The manager asked, ‘How much time do you want to play?’ They helped me sell my merch, and the T-shirts sold out within five minutes (after the performance).”

He opened his set on his Koaloha ukulele with “I’m Yours,” a Jason Mraz tune that has become a favorite of ukuleleists since its release in 2008. “That was the first song I ever learned on ukulele, actually,” says Hoyt. “I learned it on my Ron Jon Surf Shop ukulele. It was like, $12, and I had to tape the tuning pegs!” In a touching moment, he told the crowd the wild story of being called to fill in just two hours before the show and someone suggested he call his mom from the stage—so he did.

During the set, Hoyt, who grew up in the nearby city of Grimes, said he recognized some people he knew from high school and college, and from teaching music around town. They were singing along, as were hundreds of other new fans, during his song “Love to Rust” after he taught everyone the chorus. “I feel like, with the opener, usually, people talk and hang out,” he says. “But this truly felt like with the whole arena, people were really right there with me.”

After the show, he got to meet AJR and the band complimented him on the performance and thanked him for filling in last minute. “They’re just normal dudes, which I forget sometimes—that people are just people.”

The late notice didn’t faze him, says Hoyt, because he didn’t have time to worry about anything other than getting to the gig on time. “If it was six months out, I’d probably be freaking out all the time,” he says. But gigging regularly keeps him show-ready, and he was able to keep his cool through the experience, despite this being the largest crowd he has played to by far.

Hoyt has been releasing music for many years now, using the ukulele as his primary songwriting and performing instrument. He continues to pay his dues as a working musician playing plenty of small gigs that don’t involve packed arenas, and strives to stay humble. “I was playing at a nursing home a week before,” he says. “To go from a nursing home stage to the Wells Fargo Arena is kind of mind-blowing.”

He gained a lot of social media followers after the big gig and has been filling a lot more online orders for merchandise and music on his website. At a restaurant gig a couple days later, Hoyt noticed a difference in the crowd. “So many people showed up and sang along, and people were talking to me the whole time,” he says. “We’ll see what happens next.”

Things seem to be falling into place for Hoyt. After releasing a full-length album of soulful pop tunes last year, Fine (reviewed in the Fall 2023 issue of Ukulele), he recently finished recording for his next album with top-tier studio musicians in Nashville and a producer he’s admired for many years, Lucas Morton. (The first single, “Moody,” came out May 24). “It makes me feel a little bit better about making the decision to pursue music full time,” says the songwriter. “I’m 29, and 30 scares me. I know it shouldn’t, but I just feel like I have so much more I want to do before I’m 30.”

Fortunately for Hoyt, his birthday falls in late December.