I have seen Young the Giant many times—enough that my setlist.fm statistics probably indicate I’m a much bigger fan than I really am—but in my defense, the band has played, approximately, every single music festival I’ve ever been to. My first experience with the Irvine, Calif., group was as a much-hyped opener for an Incubus tour in 2011, and they blew the headliners off the stage that night. As a result, they still exist in my head as a band of plucky up-and-comers, a quintessential “good hang” act that’s still worth catching even on a Thursday night when I’ve seen them a bajillion times already.
Perhaps because of that introduction, Young the Giant is the first in what is sure to be a long line of bands that I struggle to recognize as veterans of their genre, and there is something quietly disconcerting about watching a group you filed away as newcomers step into the middle age of its career with more than 15 years in the rearview mirror. Maybe I’m just getting old.
On Thursday night, the group returned to South Florida promoting its sixth studio album, Victory Garden, which was released just over a month ago. Having not listened to a note of it in anticipation of Thursday night’s show at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium—sorry, I more or less tapped out after the group’s first 3 LPs—I can comfortably report that the new material is… fine! It sounds like Young the Giant. And in spite of the fact that the group now finds itself headlining venues like this 3,500-cap one instead of the much larger Bayfront Park Amphitheater where its summer tours reliably stopped in years past, it still retains a lot of the spark that made it feel essential in the 2010s.
After an early opening set from Almost Monday, Cold War Kids took the stage for their “special guest” slot, and for a few songs, it was easy to remember why the Long Beach outfit once felt like such a force. Now a vestige of an era where garage production and piano-driven rock tunes could command alternative radio airplay, the band’s frontman Nathan Willett noted that the group is beginning to roll out a 20th anniversary reissue of its debut record Robbers & Cowards, from which a run of material in the set landed well—that album still has teeth. On the whole, though, it was clear that the band no longer has the live energy that once set them apart. Cold War Kids used to be a powerful act, but most of its youthful vitriol seems gone now, and if the quintet still truly had the juice, they probably wouldn’t be opening for Young the Giant.
Even so, Cold War Kids can certainly still command a crowd, as evidenced by the droves of audience members that filed out after the opening set wrapped up. For what seemed to be a sold-out show, it was a noticeable exodus. The FTL War Memorial Auditorium is still a relatively new room, and I’d been there just a few weeks earlier for a pair of sold-out Goose shows that packed the place from wall to wall. Thursday night felt sparse by comparison—far from empty, but the difference between a full room and one that’s closer to half-full one registers in ways that go beyond head count. To their credit, the headliners seemed unphased when they took the stage at 9.
With a considerable production in tow that included significant stage risers and a light show that played off Victory Garden’s flower-laden cover, Young the Giant dove into the set with the new record’s opening cut. Unfortunately, the first thing that jumped out at me wasn’t the song but the sound—or, more precisely, the lack thereof, as low end was noticeably absent in the mix, and the highs muddied together as a result. Ultimately, subpar sound persisted throughout the night, presenting a significant handicap for a band whose best moments on record have some real sonic weight to them.
What cut through in spite of it was vocalist Sameer Gadhia, who is, in my opinion, one of the more underappreciated frontmen in his corner of rock music. The guy is simply excellent, a vocal force with star power that sets the band apart from many of its contemporaries—and on a night when the production wasn’t doing him any favors, he remained a captivating presence.
While the track list leaned more heavily into new material than I might have liked, the show shone brightest when early cuts made their way into the set. “Apartment,” “Something to Believe In,” “I Got,” and closer “Mind Over Matter” were all highlights, and the best moment of the night arrived mid-set when the band broke out “Garands,” a deep cut that has a special power in the live setting 15 years after its release. It’s a bit odd to watch a band you’ve been seeing since your teen years step into legacy-act territory, especially when its members are still in their 30s. Thursday night wasn’t a perfect show, but it was a reminder that the songs hold up—especially the early ones—and that most capable bands are worth catching even when the sound tech is having a rough night. Fifteen years on, Young the Giant and its audience may be starting to reflect each other: a little older, a little wiser, and trying to find a balance between reveling in victories of the past and stepping confidently into the future.
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