Photos by Melanie Allen // Article by: Sydney Rush

Austin, TX – On an unusually hot February evening, a sold out Stubb’s was packed to the brim to see Young The Giant, but not before their energizing, pop-rock openers, Lewis Del Mar, played.

The band hailing from Queens, NY performed songs off of their October, 2016 released, self-titled EP. Each song was riddled with intricate riffs and trancing effects. Their energy was high and brought the crowd the hype they needed. Everyone was at least bouncing if not full on dancing to songs like “Malt Liquor” and their most well-known song, “Loud(y).” This 45 minute opener was nothing short of a good time.

The time came for Young the Giant to grace the stage they’ve played a few times before but not in such a large degree. For this leg of their Home of the Strange, tour the group sold out two nights at Stubb’s. Once they entered, there was instant familiarity between the band and the crowd.

Sameer Gadhia, the front man graced the stage in a baby blue jumpsuit and some sweet dance moves immediately kicking off the show with “Jungle Youth,” one of the singles from their newest album Home of the Strange. With a lovely mix of songs from all three of their albums, the band transitioned seamlessly from song to song. The audience seemed to feel extremely sentimental throughout the bands performance of “Cough Syrup,” one of the most popular songs from their first, self-titled album. Payam Doostzadeh wandered around the stage playing bass with the most mischievous look on his face while Eric Cannata and Jacob Tilley played guitar with intense focus but some pretty sweet dance moves. Francois Comtois, the drummer, had a grin across his face the whole time. It was pretty clear the band and the audience were vibing off of each other during the song.

About midway through the set, the tone changed from energized to very calming when Gadhia made a small speech about how each show is different and sounds different because of the surroundings, and how each person in the crowd affects the sound of the show. He then asked everyone to take out a lighter or a flashlight during a certain part of the song he was about to play, “Art Exhibit,” which he performed solo with a ukulele for the first portion of the song. The audience definitely came through when it was time to bring out the light. The entire amphitheater was lit up and it was a truly beautiful sight to see.

For the encore, the band played three songs which were, “Amerika” and “Silver Tongue,” off their newest album Home of the Strange, and “My Body,” probably their most famous song which is from their first album Young The Giant. During their very last encore song, the entire crowd went wild. Every single person was dancing for as far as the eye could see. There was a moment when it seemed as if the crowd was jumping in sync as a whole and not one person was standing still. Young The Giant and Lewis Del Mar will be on tour until March and both have albums out that you can stream on Spotify or Apple Music and also purchase from iTunes. If you get the chance to see them anytime soon, I highly recommend it!