This past "Spring Break" many college students were spending their time soaking up the rays down south. But on North Racine Avenue in Chicago, Young the Giant was working on heating up the sub-freezing city that has faced one of its worst winters in years.
The California powerhouse was hitting Chicago for their first time on their Mind Over Matter Tour (with the second to come this summer at Lollapalooza), and wasted no time showing the crowd that they didn't need warmth or beaches to have a memorable week off. Padded by the astounding performance from opener Vance Joy, the group clawed through the majority of their newest record with brute force, only stopping long enough to play the solemn new album tracks "Firelight" and "Camera", along with Young The Giant track "Strings".
Frontman Sameer Gadhia was in premiere form, hitting all of the high notes heard on the band's last two albums, while instinctively adding in some of his own for emphasis. He even managed to nail the R. Kelly vocal take for the crowd-pleasing "Ignition (Remix)" cover that's been forgotten from the band's set since June 2012. Donning fur coats, sunglasses, and even a Yoda wig/hat, the group laughed off the opening to their encore as Gadhia shyly stated "We're going to play some of our own songs now." He didn't lie, as the band went on to pound out three final tracks, including the Mind Over Matter title track and "My Body" to close out the set.
Young the Giant is a band that consistently receives praise for their live performance, and the group is also notably fond of playing shows in The Windy City. That of course does not make any promises, but it spawns a pretty solid formula to ensure a fantastic concert. This time, the band delivered by providing even more energy than you hear from the studio albums they produce. Everyone in that room, with the California guys on stage included, did not get to spend their Spring Break 2014 in the warmth, but there's no mistaking that Chicago was where the good times were being had.
