GALLERY: Young The Giant
TORONTO, ON | MAY 31, 2023 | BY FABIANA MOREIRA
Last week, Young The Giant helped ring in the unofficial start to summer, playing a sold-out show against the backdrop of the Toronto skyline at Echo Beach. It was a magical evening full of movement as the group got down to business on their second stop of a 50-city North American tour. The 21-song setlist was neatly organized into 5 separate acts including an encore, featuring short interludes indicating the start of each section.
Being in this crowd truly felt like being part of a succession of waves, as every person was swaying and dancing amongst one another throughout. The band mirrored this high energy and kept everyone engaged with surprises on the tracklist, which was a nice balance of their entire discography, offering something for each fan. Frontman Sameer Gadhia was very charismatic with his performance, and took time to also acknowledge a personal connection to Toronto, along with drummer Francois Comtois, of which their relatives happened to be in attendance at the show. One thing that Toronto fans love is when that adoration for their city is reciprocated - this is telling by how loud the cheering was.
Including notable surprises, the first song of the encore was an unreleased track, with the working title “Metropolis”, played in its current iteration by Sameer alone. He dedicated this to his late grand-uncle, and explained how when he had played this for him while he was still around that it had inspired him to also pick up classical guitar. Saving the best for last, they ended with favourite “My Body”, where the crowd could be clearly heard shouting the entire lyrics and simultaneously cheering.
You can catch Young The Giant this summer in particular as they work through cities along the east coast and southern states, and further west later in the season. They also have a few select dates planned throughout Europe and the United Kingdom in October.
