I got the chance to see one of my favorite bands, Young the Giant, at a venue called The Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia. Young the Giant consists of five members – Sameer Gadhia, (lead vocals, plays piano, guitar, and tambourine), Jacob Tilley (guitarist), François Comtois (drummer and back-up vocals), Payam Doostzadeh (bass guitarist and back-up vocals), and Eric Cannata (guitarist and back-up vocals). This hadn’t been the first time that I had seen Young the Giant live, I had seen them in previous years – once in September 2011 and once in March 2012. They have always been a favorite band of mine ever since I heard their first hit single, My Body Their unique and alternative sound as well as their ability to get a crowd going instantly is simply amazing.
The tour they are currently on is called the Mind Over Matter tour, named after their second studio album that was released in late January of 2014. Ever since the album had come out I had been religiously listening to the songs up until the concert date. My favorite songs are Crystallized, Camera, and Mind Over Matter, although all of the songs on the album are amazing.
As soon as my friends and I entered the Tabernacle, Young the Giant music fanatics immediately surrounded us yet we somehow managed to get pretty close to the stage. It eventually got dark within the venue and Young the Giant walked out onto the stage – the crowd cheering and yelling as loud as possible. They started off with Slow Dive, a synthesized instrumental piece that gradually crescendos into a song off their new album – Anagram. After Anagram, they played It’s About Time, their first single that came out from Mind Over Matter. It’s About Time is one of the band’s more rock and rough sounding songs and one of my least favorites from Mind Over Matter. They then began to play songs off of their 2011, self-titled album – Apartment, Strings, and Guns Out. Majority of the songs from that album had a very organic, acoustic, and laid-back sound that instantly drew me in when I listened to it. After those songs, Young the Giant played three more songs off their latest album, and then a song called “I Got”, one of my personal favorites. It’s the type of song you would listen to on a hot summer’s day at the beach, with its acoustic vibe. One of my favorite things whenever I see Young the Giant perform live is to see Sameer’s ability to instantly get the crowd excited. He has such a high energy and positive presence on stage that you can really tell he loves what he does. Young the Giant played a few more songs and “ended” their setlist with Crystallized. Crystallized starts off with Sameer yelling into the microphone and a synth intro, gradually leading into a catchy melody. Once the song ended the band exited the stage, the crowd knowing the concert could not have been over because they had yet to play two of their greatest hits – My Body and Mind Over Matter, as well as the slow paced and beautiful song, Camera. The crowd began to yell at the top of their lungs and chanted Young the Giant. After a few minutes passed, Young the Giant graced the stage and started with Camera, a slow, piano based pieced that has an extremely relaxing feeling to it. After Camera, they played My Body and Mind Over Matter, both extremely high-energy songs. The crowd went into an uproar and sang to every lyric in both songs. Overall, this concert is probably ranked as my all time favorite concert that I have been to.