Young the Giant Brings Bollywood To The Youtube Theater

Young the Giant performing at the YouTube Theater, LA by Jonathan Nack

The California based band packed out the 6,000 cap venue fresh off their new LP!

I had the pleasure of seeing Young The Giant in 2019 when they toured with the Fitz and the Tantrums which was a great high note to leave off on before the pandemic hit. I admire when a band can bring me back to their music even more after seeing them live. Young the Giant was one of those bands for me. Three years later, they began touring their latest album, American Bollywood which was released in four acts which was quite fitting given the name of the record. The album explores very cinematic soundscapes matched with traditional Indian instrumentation following the roots of frontman Sameer Gadhia. In a recent statement about the release, they mentioned that the essence of the band name is to be young and naive but at the same time incredibly optimistic. With all that being said, I was thrilled to see how the band would bring these ideas to fruition at the YouTube Theater. 

After acquiring my media credentials and finding my seat, I was met with the opener of the show Danielle Ponder who I was unfamiliar with at start. I later found out that she is actually with the Australian record label Future Classic which is well-known for working with the prominent electronic artist Flume and working on the late SOPHIE’s debut album. Ponder is an incredibly talented R&B vocalist; she filled the room with her voice leaving everyone in the speechless. I was thrilled to see her get lots of audience participation and I'm positive that she left her set garnering a good amount of new fans including myself. 

As Ponder finished up her set to a standing ovation, I made my way down to the photo pit as the tour team prepared the stage for Young the Giant. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the photographers who were shooting for the band and they spoke very highly of the members while they reminisced about how far they’ve. After the stage was set, the lights came down and we were met with an instrumental reminiscent of something from the opening of a movie similar to the 21st-Century Fox theme. The band opened with the title track “American Bollywood,” and our attention was quickly drawn to a section of string players on the stage as they complimented Gadhia's vocal performance, keeping in line with the cinematic theme of the record. As the band made their way through the set, short segments featuring someone speaking played in between songs which is how they broke up their set into corresponding acts. I thought this was a really cool detail since their album was organized the same way and we later found out that the person speaking was the lead singer's grandmother.

Young the Giant performing at the YouTube Theater, LA by Jonathan Nack

 About halfway through, Young the Giant played “Cough Syrup” which had the whole crowd in an uproar including myself as I sang along to every word. As the intensity of the band set turned up, I began to notice how every member was plugged into wireless audio receivers allowing them to run around the stage with their guitars in a free-form fashion. This energy was infectious as the band kicked into their groovy cut “Heat of the Summer” which had the crowd yelling “I just do what I wanna in the heat of the summer,” as we all remembered the season that just passed. The band also performed a cover of Joni Mitchel’s “Both Sides Now,” which was a somber way of moving into the later half of the set.

The band made sure not too let this song get the crowd too low as they immediately moved into their incredibly up-tempo songs “Tightrope” and “My Body” which is one of my personal favorites. Afterwards, they left quickly as the crowd applauded for an encore. One last vocal excerpt from Gadhia's grandmother played as the band made their way back onto the stage. Guitarist Eric Cannata brought out the ukulele for standout track “Superposition” from 2019 release Mirror Mirror. The band made sure to end on an incredibly high note with “Mind over Matter” and “Silvertongue” delivering the conclusion to the four part set.

Young the Giant is a band that does an incredible job of bringing listeners into their world as they progress through many different album cycles with varying themes. Three years ago when I first saw them, they set my expectations incredibly high. They also exceeded those expectations this time around; I can only imagine where they will go next with their ever-expanding career. Check out the setlist here!

PS: Check out our gallery of photos from the performance!

PS: Check out our gallery of photos from the performance!