After tactfully addressing the Italian sports car mispronunciation of his name by the Viper Room’s MC, Ferras took a seat at the piano with the confidence of a man who’s clearly more comfortable in front of his instrument than anywhere else. To be honest, I’ve never been much into Elton John-style piano music, but just seeing how attentively the crowd listened to Ferras’ every lyric helped me understand why this genre of music is so loved. Whether your ear vibes with the sound or not, you can’t help but feel it.

Yes, the white candles on the piano were a bit much, and yes, I saw the irony of Ferras singing “Hollywood is Not America” at the Hollywood-centric Viper Room, but at the same time it was refreshing to see a room full of head-nodding, piano pop optimists together in a room at the heart of the Sunset Strip.