Gang of Youths at Paradise Rock Club, 5/9
A good stage presence is hard to come by. Sure, there are lots of bands with a decent energy or enough money to disguise their lack of enthusiasm with laser shows, but a true performer is a rare catch – let alone a whole group.
Well, the group of bearded hipster types that crowded into the Paradise Rock Club on May 9th, 2022, witnessed a unicorn of the music industry – a group that’s been in the industry for over 10 years (a 2011 start date!) and puts on a show that moonlights as both a comedy night and an orchestra outing. Gang of Youths, a 6 piece with Australian flair and the accents to match, checked all these boxes.
Before the band went on, Alaskan Native artist Quinn Christopherson warmed up the crowd. With a bedroom pop sound created with only an accompanying DJ speeding up and slowing down a beat track and lightly plucking a guitar, Christopherson went through close to their entire discography and gave introductions both poignant and personal for each song. Their music is stunning in the way being 17 and hearing a Phoebe Bridgers song for the first time is stunning – it ensnares the senses with its simplistic beats and truly poetic lyrics, sung in a light but incredibly emotional voice. They ended their set to thunderous applause from an entranced audience, lulled into silence to hear the full depth of the lyrics.
This silence, however, quickly gave way into a hubbub of excitement after the opener’s set ended, with the more experienced Gang of Youths fans telling the first-timers how much they were in for a treat. They were, of course, correct: the show started with frontman David Le’aupepe gliding out onto the stage under a golden halo of light, waving to the crowd, and immediately launching into “angel of 8th ave.,” the opening song off their most recent album Angel in Realtime. The band played an array of songs from their albums, focusing on the 2022 Angel in Realtime and pausing between songs for Le’aupepe, a charmingly accented man with a passion for tattoos and swing dancing across the stage (seriously, he was wearing professional ballroom dancer shoes), to taunt, bond with, and command the crowd.
After playing “brother,” a piano ballad with violin accompaniment about the frontman’s journey finding his half-siblings, Le’aupepe stopped the start of the following song three times (“Let Me Down Easy” – a bouncy Irish-drinking-chant-esque song about “drinking, dancing, and loving each other”), refusing to continue until the entire room was a writhing mass of dancing bodies. Long breaks were dedicated to banter, as he discussed Boston sports, similarities in Boston and Sydney’s bar culture, and little anecdotes about the band’s history. “in the wake of your leave” was another notable moment, a testament to how well the whole band can play their instruments while dancing and very nearly running into each other. Violinist Tom Hobden – a Mumford & Sons alumnus who joined the band in 2020 – was a standout of the night, wafting across the stage in Le’aupepe’s wake and barely putting his instrument down to take a break after several solos.
The night ended with “What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?,” an inspiring ballad from the 2017 album Go Farther in Lightness, and an ear-splitting round of applause for each band member as they were ushered out by Le’aupepe. The concert-goers left the room in high spirits, chattering about their favorite moments and remarkable sonic feats pulled off by one member or the other. Gang of Youths charmed the Boston scene successfully, their combined stage presence magnified by a musical prowess that mystified the crowd.
