Seeing Alex G headline for the first time was simply watching 4 guys jam out on stage- and it was absolutely awesome.
My friend and I arrived early, wanting a spot closer to the stage while also leaving time for me to speak to and take pictures of fans in the line. Outside the venue, the people I met were pleasant and fun to talk to, most having listened to him for a long time and being able to name their favorite tracks from the new album. Whenever I asked to take a picture of them, the answer was always a quick “Yes!” and generally some small talk while my polaroid camera printed the photo. Excitement flowed through the long line, which stretched much further than I expected it to before we ended up settling into a spot.
Securing a place one group behind the barricade, my friend and I restlessly waited for Nilüfer Yanya, the opener, to come onstage. We had no idea what to expect. Immediately after their introductory song, I knew they were the right band for what was to come. Their music blended into Alex G’s tone and genre perfectly, with a sporadic, rock-esque sound. Nilüfer Yanya herself sang with sharp inflections and low, melodic notes that contrasted the intensity of her instrumental backing in a beautiful way. Specifically, the way the instrumentals swung into action alongside her voice during “Like I Say (I runaway)” made for a really unique listening experience and a fun start to the concert.
As bright makeshift car headlights appeared at the back of the stage, the revving of an engine filled the room, and Alex G came onstage to yelling fans and a couple people around me asking “…Which one is he..?” (There were 4 white dudes with brown hair on stage, it was a valid question). He opened with “Louisiana,” pitching his voice higher and immediately making sure every eye was glued straight to him.
He hardly spoke to the crowd, save for the obligatory “Thank you for having me DC,” but what he lacked in crowd interaction, he more than made up for in stage presence. As the lights flashed and the whining of guitar feedback flew through the room, he sat at his keyboard rhythmically jerking his body back and forth while slamming on the keys. By the way he moved around stage and sang into the mic like it was about to walk away from him, Alex G’s emotion felt raw and tight. It was as though he had been holding it in for ages and saving it up to perform just for us. The pure sound radiating from the speakers was electric, buzzing through the crowd and absolutely overwhelming the venue.
Being so close to the barricade, there was inevitable pushing and shoving from behind our group of screaming superfans— some of them yelling “Marry Me!!” every time there was a pause between songs. It only made sense that there was some competition for who could shove their way ahead of us. At one point, a girl practically begged us to believe that she had a friend standing at the front of the barricade. No matter how many times we asked her to call them, she just kept repeating herself before eventually giving up and retreating to her original group. Her performance could have been better, but the people ahead of us were not letting anyone get past them. A lot of the fans in the pit had a lack of concert etiquette in a way I haven’t seen in a while, which was unfortunate, especially after my positive interactions with them outside the venue. Trying to talk to anyone but the couple of girls that were dancing alongside us felt like a business transaction, with the other person nudging closer to the stage as we spoke.
I’ve seen Alex G in concert before, as a co-headliner with the band Alvvays at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston. That crowd was lackluster, obviously not having shown up for his set, and the only song that garnered excitement was “Sarah,” which had gone viral on TikTok not too long before. He seemed checked out, and even called the crowd the wrong city name the couple times that he stopped his performance. But this show was completely different. Completely engrossed in his songs, he matched the energy of each perfectly. Throughout the show, I was struck by the amount of instruments that were pulled out—from guitars, keyboards, and drums to a mandolin, an accordion, and something that I can only describe as sounding something like a triangle and looking something like a shiny square. Each time something new would be taken out, the crowd would go wild as though they knew exactly what was coming; honestly, most of the time they did.
Alex G performed “Beam Me Up” towards the beginning of the show, bringing out his full potential as a performer and setting the mood for the entire concert, alongside the incredible lighting and set design. This was one of my personal standouts, alongside “Real Thing” and his cover of “Monster Mash” towards the end of the show, each of which brought out Alex G’s signature chaos blended into the rhythm and emotion of his music. The instrumental numbers were just as fun to watch as the more popular songs, which was a pleasant surprise because I’m not usually one for live music without lyrics. “Monster Mash” was a fun and unexpected break from the music on his album, and as someone who is very passionate and excited about Halloween season, I really enjoyed his spin on the song and the way it rocketed a lot of the audience into singing a familiar song in a more eccentric way. Alex G’s song “Real Thing” was a perfect example of the way he is able to smoothly introduce pure emotion into his songs. The song is from his new album, Headlights, yet the fans around us again passionately swung into action as they sang alongside his slightly warped vocals. It felt to me like he was directly addressing the audience, making the performance feel different from the others, contrasting his lack of interaction with the crowd.
Overall, the concert was definitely one of my all-time favorites. The rude fans were completely overshadowed by Alex G’s performance, and completely worth it for the sake of getting to see him up close.
Sidenote: My friend caught the setlist. Absolutely radical way to end a great show.
