CONCERT RECAP: Young The Giant and Milky Chance’s Co-Headline Tour is the Best Show You’ll See This Summer

There are a lot of bands on the road this summer and a lot of options for shows to spend your money on.

I know that I’m just a wannabe journalist and a no-name radio guy so I shouldn’t be making decisions for you. But, if I were you, and this tour hasn’t already come through your area, I don’t think you’ll find a better bang for your buck than Young the Giant and Milky Chance’s co-headline tour going all across the country this summer.

And I will admit, I’m probably a little biased. I’ve been a fan of Young the Giant for a long while now. I vividly remember being in seventh grade and having a friend play Cough Syrup for me. All through high school, I’d hear My Body blaring out of the speakers at the gym I went to while also hearing Mind Over Matter and Superposition as they spent ample time on Alternative Radio airwaves. It’s safe to say I’ve been wanting to see them for a while now. Yet, despite that, my attendance at this show all came together extremely last minute. Last Monday, I found out I would be in Houston for one of my brother’s baseball tournaments. On Tuesday, I found their publicist’s email address and sent in my request to cover the show which was approved and settled by that evening. (Which, by the way, a huge thank you Madi Florence at Big Hassle for being extremely kind and easy to work with!)

The show was at 713 Music Hall which is a venue that just opened its doors about a year and a half ago in November 2021. This place is incredible and was just so nice. It never got too cramped, there was never a crazy line for anything (except for the typical post-show merch rush), and most importantly, it sounded great. The two levels of balconies and box seats above the main floor make for a really cool setting and made it to where, outside of a few poles, there was no struggle to find a good sight line. The staff there was extremely kind and accommodating as well and made it super easy to find everything I need for the evening.

Rosa Linn was the first opener for the evening. She’s an Armenian singer-songwriter that gained a ton of notoriety for her single Snap which she used to represent her home country in the 2022 Eurovision contest. I missed the beginning of her set but enjoyed what I did see. Her performance was her, her guitar, and a looper pedal, kind of reminiscent of the Ed Sheeran one-man band shows he used to play. It was really unique and something I’d never seen anyone do before.

Milky Chance went on after a quick changeover and from the second they took the stage, they had the crowd in the palm of their hand. I genuinely think they could’ve been the headliner and still sold this venue just as well. Their set was such a joy to experience. It was part rock show, part dance party, the song Don’t Let Me Down got a facelift that made me feel like I was at an EDM show. It had an awesome breakdown, lights behind them strobing in every direction, and frontman Clemens Rehbein dancing and bussing it down.

The setlist was super well-paced and so much fun. Synchronize and Ego were super groovy openers. Cocoon‘s seamless transition into Down By The River was another treat in the opening run. Also, I think it needs to be stated many many times that Cocoon is an absolute banger, and man, that song ripped live. They also included a pretty incredible cover of Tainted Love that the crowd loved and responded well to. But of course, the biggest roars of their set came with the back-to-back punch of Stolen Dance and Colorado, two of the band’s biggest hits to date. Phones were out and recording in full force, the crowd danced harder and sang louder than they had at any point in the night before, and they could’ve ended their set there. However, they kept it going with Running and Sweet Sun to close the show out. Running was another banger to keep the momentum high and included a moment where Rehbein asked everyone on the floor to get low before instructing everyone to jump up when the drums kicked back in. And to wrap the bow on the set, Sweet Sun concluded with guitarist and synth player Philipp Dausch ripping a harmonica solo which was fantastic and unexpected. It was a great end to the set and even though I wasn’t crazy about the band going into the set, they easily won me over and I’m pretty sure they got themselves a bunch of new fans that night.

I want to state again that Milky Chance could’ve probably headlined this show and it would’ve sold just as many tickets and brought just as enthusiastic of a crowd. And being honest, Young the Giant had some big shoes to fill as the lights dimmed a few minutes after 9:20 p.m. The band filled them alright, and then some.

Before I get into the meat of this recap, I want to really quickly set the scene of the show. The setlist was split into four acts and an encore break. The setlist relied heavily on the band’s most recent album American Bollywood which, I’ll be 100% honest, I wasn’t crazy over upon release but…well we’ll get into that. The band’s set design was second to none from any show I’ve seen this year. The band played under what looked like a cloth chandelier or a lampshade that housed a disco ball that was lowered down for the encore. All of the lights were wrapped with tassels and different ribbons along with four frames behind the band that held mirrors with stickers on them with a logo from each corner of the album’s cover art. It was a super elaborate production and it felt like a huge homage to lead singer Sameer Gadhia’s Indian roots and heritage.

The band kicked off the evening with American Bollywood‘s first two songs, its title track and Wake Up. Just from these first two songs, something I noticed was that the crowd was pretty different than most shows I go to. Most times when I go to a show, an artist or band playing or saying they’re about to play new songs is the cue for most in the audience to run to the bathroom or to get another drink. However, for Young the Giant, new songs were just as well received as their hits. The title track was such a great way to kick off the show with its slow but steady build that never really reaches a climax but gives just enough for Gadhia to dance around and trigger different effects from an electronic pad he has right to his immediate right. Wake Up kicked off what ended up being three big sing-alongs to conclude the first act with Gadhia letting the music fully control him and dancing like no one was watching. They continued on with Something To Believe In which I liked when I was going through a playlist of their setlist but this song was even more fierce and even more fiery when it was played live. Especially with Gadhia and the crowd getting in each others faces to scream back the final line of the chorus, “JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN.” To close out the first act of the show, the lights dimmed blue and a spotlight fell over guitarist Eric Cannata who started playing the opening riff to Cough Syrup. Gadhia didn’t need to, but he prompted the crowd to sing along anyways and they did so very loudly. Also as a personal note, I just want to say that while I didn’t cry or get overly emotional, I did have a huge wave of nostalgia wash over me as the band ripped through the chorus and verses of the song. The first act closed with Gadhia standing on the drum riser with the rest of the band jumping up and down and getting the crowd to do the same. It was a pretty amazing moment to watch from the photo pit.

The second act kicked off with a video interlude that led into The Walk Home, one of my favorites from American Bollywood. The chorus is so much fun and Gadhia’s stage presence made it rock even harder. I Got from their debut self-titled record followed and was a fun change in pace. It definitely feels more in the lane of The Strokes or Interpol but it was fun to hear live. Another change in pace followed with Nothing’s Over which starts off kind of moody but ends as a dance tune with Gadhia playing cowbells as he grooves across the stage.

The third act kicked off with Dollar $tore which was another song that sounded much more fierce live than it did on record. I’m pretty sure Gadhia had some distortion in his mix or maybe he just sang with a little more grit but he really sold the greedy aspect of the song. The final chorus switching to double time was perfect live as well. I also loved just how fuzzy and distorted Eric Cannata’s guitar was while Jacob Tilley’s slide guitar was super clean and shiny. It was a great contrast. Cult of Personality came next and came with a bit of a change. First, Gadhia grabbed an acoustic guitar and played it for the song, and second, instead of horns, most of the song was driven by that fuzzy guitar again. The show’s third act finished on a calmer note with Heat of the Summer which is super laid back and chilled compared to the two songs before. It lets Gadhia’s falsetto shine and it’s more of a groove song than anything that had come before it.

The final act of the show finished the main set off strong, starting off with Dancing in the Rain which is a song that swept me off my feet hearing it live. I didn’t think too much of it when I heard it on the record but this song was incredible live. People on the floor were bouncing up and down as Gadhia sang about everyone dancing. And if people on the floor weren’t dancing to that song, they were sure as hell dancing as soon as Tightrope kicked off. It’s another song that caught me by surprise live and definitely had me moving and grooving along as well. To close out the main set, Gadhia grabbed an electric guitar and drummer Fraçios Comtois played the drum intro to Mind Over Matter which led to a huge singalong before the band disappeared back stage for a few minutes.

Coming back out for the encore, Gadhia thanked everyone for showing up and saying that it had been four years since the band had played a show in Houston and saying that a lot had changed since that last show and dedicated the song Firelight to everyone that had lost someone or had been through hell throughout the past couple of years. He also asked the crowd to hold up their phone flashlights which is always super cool to see, especially in a room like 713 Music Hall. Once the song ended, Comtois started playing a drum beat as the disco ball was lowered from under its lampshade and it began lighting up the room with yellow dots as the band launched into Superposition.

The performance of the song was bliss but the disco ball just added so much more to the experience. The disco ball stayed down for Silvertounge which made sure to get anyone who wasn’t dancing to Dancing in the Rain or Tightrope moving. As Silvertounge got closer to its end, I knew a moment I had been waiting for for a while was coming up super soon and it came the second Silvertounge ended as Comtois started playing a beat on his toms and Cannata and Tilley started playing the opening chords to My Body. As soon as the guitars started, there was a rush of people down to the floor and you could feel the energy start to build up and it continued to build until the band reached the chorus. Once they got there, the energy in the room exploded with all 5000 people in attendance jumping up and down, belting the chorus back to the band. It was a magical moment and getting to hear that song live was everything I hoped it would be. Gadhia turned the microphone over to the audience for the final chorus, the band played the breakdown bit again, got rid of their instruments to wave goodbye, and Gadhia almost got backstage before coming back to his mic, screaming into it to say that he loved the city and they would be back soon, then left for real.

So I guess I’ll properly address this now. I didn’t care for American Bollywood on my first couple of listens but these songs absolutely blew me away in the live setting. Songs I already knew I liked from the album turned into songs I loved and songs I either didn’t like or thought were just fine won me over. The songs from the record fit in perfectly with their older material and I’ve never seen a crowd that loved hearing the new stuff just as much as they loved hearing Cough Syrup and Mind Over Matter. What pleased me the most though was just how great the band is live. When I first got credentialed for the show, I expected that I would see a good indie rock show and nothing more than that. That’s not a bad thing, sometimes that hits the sweet spot for me. There is truly nothing better than going to a show that exceeds all expectations and this one did that. From the second Milky Chance took over, I knew we were in for a special night. Even then, it feels like an understatement. This is probably my favorite show I’ve seen in 2023 so far and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better co-headline tour running through the country this summer.