Photos by Phillip Roffman
Sunday night shows at the Culture Room aren’t usually a sold out event, but leave it to the VMA featured band on the rise, Young the Giant, with the help of Grouplove, to drag fans from their pre-week slums. About 70% of the crowd being teenage girls, the school night blues were shaken away as the openers stepped onto the stage. It didn’t take long for the general crowd to drift their interest and begin the notorious wave of head bobbing. Grouplove, with their lively and animated Molly Ringwald look alike Hannah Hooper, dancing wildly, and second front man Christian Zucconi, who’s disheveled green hair flopped atop his eyes as he jumped to and fro about the stage, jamming out on his guitar- I pondered in disbelief, how could the crowd resist such a vivacious and endearing band?
They were quite the bubbly and smiley bunch, and I cannot seem to wrap my head around why the concert goers almost dismissed the gang of cuties. Because, besides their jumpy and enlivened appeal as a live band, the sound they delivered along with it was straight off the album quality. This was a band that deserved the crowd’s attention, which they only seemed to get full heartedly at the performance of their singles, “Colours,” featured on the show Breaking Bad, and “Tongue Tied,” a Sirius XM favorite.
Not too long after, Young the Giant stepped onto the stage to be greeted by ripple of female shrieks from the front rowers, throwing out their arms and wailing, “I LOVE YOU YOUNG THE GIANT!!,” and other derivatives of that. Launching right into “I Got,” surprisingly, the crowd sang along to every word, grooving along with the sensual and charming lead singer, Sameer Gadhia, who used the ledge of the stage to his full advantage all night long. Repeatedly leaning into the crowd to graze their outstretched and begging arms, they knew how to put on a show for their audience. Their continuous acknowledgement of the crowd, confident movement and dynamic on stage, and impeccably clean sound made for a fantastic concert experience. And the fact that the crowd had a general knowledge of the album, as opposed to solely the singles, made the show automatically more enjoyable.
Several songs after the crowd favorite, “Cough Syrup,” they slowed it down, Sameer taking a spot behind the keyboard, and played a quiet yet emotive new song called “Camera,” to which the audience ceased their dancing. But it wasn’t long until they’d be jumping frantically to the triumphal and explosive show closer, “My Body,” which had everyone in the crammed venue with their eyes shut tight singing passionately, “My body tells me nooooo!!! But I wont QUIT, cause I want moree!!! CAUSE I WANT MORE!”
And with this untamed ardor, we were reminded just who we were watching- a band that will get big, and we were seeing it right before our eyes. The thing about Young the Giant, which was evident in Sunday night’s show, is that they know how to be a band of 2012. Taking a quick instagram photo of the crowd to be posted on all their social networking sites in seconds, they show the world that they are happening, and they’re happening NOW. And with a live show like that one, I don’t think anyone’s complaining.