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Young the Giant at Palace
Young The Giant Setlist
03/06/2019 The Wilma Missoula, MT
Read More03/07/2019 Knitting Factory Boise, ID 03/08/2019 Knitting Factory Spokane, WA 05/19/2019 Merriweather Post Columbia, MD 06/09/2019 Oklahoma City Zoo Oklahoma City, OK 06/12/2019 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO 06/16/2019 White River State Park Indianapolis, IN 06/18/2019 PNC Pavilion At Riverbend Cincinnati, OH 06/20/2019 Maine Savings Pavilion Westbrook, ME 06/21/2019 Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion Boston, MA 06/22/2019 Dover International Speedway Dover, DE 06/27/2019 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA 06/28/2019 Express Live! Columbus, OH 06/29/2019 Michigan Lottery Theater Sterling Heights, MI 06/30/2019 Jacobs Pavilion At Nautica Cleveland, OH 07/03/2019 Harrah's Council Bluffs, IA 07/05/2019 Whitewater Amphitheater New Braunfels, TX 07/06/2019 Toyota Music Factory Irving, TX 07/07/2019 White Oak Music Hall - Lawn Houston, TX 07/10/2019 Walmart AMP Rogers, AR 07/12/2019 Ascend Amphitheater Nashville, TN 07/13/2019 Charlotte Metro Charlotte, NC 07/14/2019 State Bank Amphitheatre Atlanta, GA 07/16/2019 Red Hat Amphitheater Raleigh, NC 07/18/2019 Cuban Club Tampa, FL 07/19/2019 St. Augustine Amph Saint Augustine, FL 07/20/2019 Bayfront Park Amph Miami, FL 07/21/2019 Orlando Amphitheater Orlando, FL 08/04/2019 Marymoor Park Redmond, WA 08/06/2019 McMenamins Edgefield Troutdale, OR 08/08/2019 Santa Barbara Bowl Santa Barbara, CA 08/09/2019 Cal Coast Credit San Diego, CA 08/10/2019 Forum Inglewood, CA 08/16/2019 Events Center Las Vegas, NV
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After giving the crowd something to believe in, during ‘Nothing’s Over’, it was almost all over--
Two bands from sunny Los Angeles filled the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, headlined by Young the Giant on their Mirror Master Tour, to bring some California warmth for the winter crowd that gathered.
Experimental indie-pop band Sure Sure opened the evening, in support of their self-titled (and self-released) full length, put out just over a year ago. The band has a true DIY approach, recording everything inside their LA home and releasing/distributing on their own terms, including their most recent single, ‘Warm Animal’.
The collaborative group (Chris Beachy -keyboardist, singer; Charlie Glick-guitars/singer; Kevin Farzad-drums,; and Michael Coleman-producer) has gained an expanding local following, both through their own shows and recently opening for Minneapolis’ own Hippo Campus , even offering the somewhat old-fashioned practice of having a band hotline phone number, where you can leave a question or message.
“Let’s just talk about the weather… you guys have some crazy winds- we dubbed them the swindly winds because they will swindle you right off the road” the California band remarked about their drive west from Madison, getting everyone to clap along on the laid-back heartbreak vibe of 2016’s ‘Friends’. Set highlight s included their cover of a Talking Heads classic, ‘What’s It Like’ about seeing a stranger at a grocery store and imagining the possibilities, and the set-ending ‘Hands Up Heads Down’ which had everyone mimicking a zombie dance.
With a mostly bare stage against the shape of a glowing cube centered above and behind them, Young the Giant began their eighty-minute headlining set with the ominous ‘Oblivion’ from fourth full-length album Mirror Master (Elektra Records) a song that lyrically freely exposes fears and vulnerabilities.
The five-piece (Sameer Gadhia-vocals; Jacob Tilley- guitar); Eric Cannata- guitar); Payam Doostzadeh- bass ; Francois Comtois- drums) has become an increasingly seasoned live band and lyrically, is one of those rare acts that can look both inward and outward with compelling effectiveness, often musically understated and never overdoing it.
‘Heat of the Summer’ sung with a Gadhia falsetto, brought some collective warmth by the crowd’s responses and moving bodies as the stage was suitably bathed in a myriad of orange and red lights, but a bigger response was saved for the following song, ‘Apartment’ - “we’re going to take you back for a second” said Gadhia, introducing the radio hit.
On cue during the chorus of 2016’s ‘Titus Was Born’, the backdrop curtain was pulled down as Gadhia sang “Rain’s falling, falling on you” revealing a giant panel of blinking strobe lights, flashing to resemble a storm. After a third of the way through, the band paused for a short, more acoustic and quieter mini-set, based on their own short video series In the Open with ‘Islands’ and ‘Firelight’, the latter about things that exist only in your head, ending the song with everyone’s cellphones and lighters illuminating the dark theatre.
Ramping things back up, ‘Amerika’ is essentially a love song against the immigrant contradictions of our country, with Gadhia singing “I was searching for something, as I watched you run” and on 2008’s ‘Cough Syrup’ Gadhia declares “life’s too short to even care at all” while taking a temporary and common remedy.
Gadhia called out his wife in the audience, dedicating ‘Mind over Matter’ to her on this night of her birthday, then towards the end of ‘Nothing’s Over’ as the band danced in synchronized turns, Gadhia stepped back a little too far, running into a keyboard stand and taking a dramatic tumble on stage, but all the while still playing, and never missing a beat.
“I have a scar somewhere here now” Gadhia said at the encore, quickly lifting the back of his shirt as the band launched into the new album’s single, ‘Superposition’ with Gadhia perhaps still thinking of his wife on lines like “in any universe, you are my dark star”.
The new ‘Tightrope’ is perhaps the band’s funkiest song to date and after the addicted to madness/addicted to badness romp of ‘Silvertongue’, the crowd went crazy for the set-closing emotional release of 2010’s ‘My Body’. “It’s my road!” Gadhia sings repetitively and it was clear from the rabid response and their still-growing loyal following, that Young the Giant is charting their own course, to even bigger success.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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