Tag: Concert Review

  • Djo and Tame Impala Perform to Sold-Out Show at Benchmark Arena

    Djo and Tame Impala Perform to Sold-Out Show at Benchmark Arena

    Psychedelic rock artists Tame Impala and Djo play to a crowd of nearly 20,000 fans during the Tampa stop of their Deadbeat tour. Photo credits to Marley.

    Djo and Tame Impala–or Joe Keery and Kevin Parker, performed to a sold out show at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, on July 9. The night kicked off at 7:00 p.m. with Djo as the opening act, who performed a 10-song set that got the crowd excited for what was to come. Djo and Tame Impala collaborated together on Tame Impala’s song “Loser”, with Joe Keery being the lead actor for the music video. Djo is opening for Tame Impala for a total of 13 shows– Tampa being the third show on the North American leg of the Deadbeat tour. 

    Djo’s music compliments Tame Impala’s well as both blend a mix of psychedelic rock and indie synth driven sounds. The pairing of both Djo and Tame Impala gave the show an electric vibe, as both artists music complimented one another, which made the show feel as if they were one big artist and not two separate artists. Fans of Djo were introduced to Tame Impala’s larger-than-life live production, while longtime Tame Impala fans had the chance to experience an artist whose music shares many of the same psychedelic and indie influences. After Djo wrapped up, there was a break of 45 minutes before Tame Impala took stage. 

    Tame Impala’s set included a full laser show with atmospheric smoke, a 360-stage, and confetti. It is mentioned a lot that there are “no bad seats for Tame Impala”, meaning whether you are on the floor or in the nosebleeds, the lasers are reaching wherever you are for a unique experience. A concert go-er mentioned that she was happy she had nosebleed seats at the top, because she could see the full production of the lasers. 

    Tame Impala performed a 21-song set, followed by a three-song encore. During the encore, Kevin Parker noticed a fan in the crowd holding a sign that read, “Pick a Song,” with four covered song choices. Kevin told the audience, “We’ll play the game,” before one of his bandmates added, “We’ll play it, but it’s rigged,” earning laughs from the crowd. Kevin picked number two, revealing “The Moment,” which the band then performed. 

    One of the most memorable parts of the performance was seeing how engaged the audience remained from beginning to end. During slower songs, thousands of phone lights illuminated the arena, while upbeat tracks had nearly everyone on their feet dancing. The crowd’s excitement never seemed to fade, even after more than two hours of music. There was even a B-stage that Kevin switched to, where he performed two songs before going back to the main stage. 

    By the end of the encore, the audience left the arena filled with adrenaline. Right outside the doors, staff were handing out memorabilia tickets for fans to take home. Both Djo and Tame Impala put on an unforgettable performance, and fans are excited for future music and tours.

    Check out Tame Impala’s website for information on tour dates, ticketing and more: https://www.tameimpala.com/

  • Jay Chang Returns to Toronto for Fannect Tour

    Jay Chang Returns to Toronto for Fannect Tour

    Singer Jay Chang embarked on his second fan meeting tour this year, stopping by Toronto and giving incredible performances. Photo credits to Prince Zerose on Instagram.

    Returning to Toronto for the fifth time, Jay Chang kicked off his North American Fannect tour at El Mocambo on June 4th. The intimate venue let fans up close to the artist as he performed a mix of his recent releases “Higher” and “Feel”, older ones like “Up to You”, and even a surprise cover of Jackson 5’s “ABC.”

    Jay’s live performances never disappoint, with his smooth vocals, signature riffs and high notes. However, the highlight of the show was definitely the Q&A segment with his Sunlights (fans). Jay took time between performances to interact with the crowd, answering questions from “what’s your favorite thing about Toronto”, to “what do you think a cloud tastes like?”

    Toronto Sunlights showered Jay with love by gifting him a Toronto Blue Jays cap and a bag of ketchup chips. In return, Jay gifted his fans with spoilers for his upcoming activities: confirming his attendance at KCON LA this coming August with his One Pact members, and, singing a snippet of the Tagalog song “Marilag” from his upcoming Philippines tour in July. Most notably, Jay performed an all new song “Never Give it Up” for the first time!

    After the show, Jay concluded the experience with Meet & Greet packages, including a fan chat, signing albums and photocards, and polaroids/selfies with fans. Though the interactions were short, Jay gave all his energy and efforts to each fan he met. Even after the night ended, Jay continued the fan service through Video and Voice calls with lucky fans.

    Jay has now wrapped up his Fannect tour, but you can catch him and his group One Pact in August at KCON LA!

  • Stray Kids Deliver High-Energy Performance at Gov Ball

    Stray Kids Deliver High-Energy Performance at Gov Ball

    South Korean boy group Stray Kids headlined the GovBall festival, delivering high-energy performances. Photo credits to Mary Allison.

    Thousands of fans packed Flushing Meadows–Corona Park’s Verizon stage– as South Korean boy group Stray Kids headlined Governors Ball, delivering one of the festival’s most highly anticipated sets. 

    Stray Kids is an eight member K-pop group under JYP Entertainment. The group consists of members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. Due to health related issues, member Seungmin— who makes up half of Vocal Racha—could not attend the festival. Despite Seungmin not attending, STAYS—fans of Stray Kids—began lining up for the festival early in the morning, some at 6AM. Before the festival began, fans held a freebie trading meet-up at Unisphere in the park where they all traded different freebies that they brought such as photocards of the members, keychains, bracelets and more.

    Once the festival gates opened, fans rushed toward the stage to try their chance at getting barricade. The anticipation and excitement for Stray Kids grew throughout the day, as fans waited though many artists’ performances in order to see the group, who would perform later in the evening. Right before their set, the screens showed a message stating that due to severe weather, their set would be pushed forward by almost three hours, and that the festival would end right after their performance. Following this announcement, many fans scrambled around in order to make their way to the correct stage. Those who were sitting and waiting on the ground at the barricade quickly stood up and gathered their belongings as they waited for the boys to hit the stage. 

    As the clock got closer to the new set time, fans were anxiously awaiting and the energy began to shift. As soon as the clock struck 6:15pm, the crowd began chanting and cheering as the Stray Kids introduction theme song cut through the air. 

    At last, seven of the eight members of Stray Kids walked onto the stage to begin the show. The group began their set with a crowd favorite, “Topline”, which was a fan predicted song as it is the perfect festival song with its high energy and intense rapping. For those who lined up early and heard the soundcheck happening from inside the festival earlier that morning, it came to no surprise that “Side Effects” was performed. Unlike the original version of the song, the group added their own unique festival twist on it, and remixed it into a rave version. The atmosphere was electric as the crowd jumped and danced to the song.

    Throughout the entire set, the members were dousing the crowd with water and having fun interactions with fans. At one point during the set, the members stopped their commentary in between songs to check on the well being of the crowd. There were several people who needed the medics working on the clock. Stray Kids are known for caring about their fans and audience members’ well-being.

    While Seungmin could not attend the festival, the members brought Seungmin’s SKZOO (a representative animal plushie) PuppyM on stage with them through the set, and the crowd chanted Seungmin’s name. There were speculations on whether or not they would perform their song “Divine” and who would sing the intro, as member Seungmin’s voice opened the song. They did perform it and left Seungmin’s backing vocals in so as to not leave him out of the fun. Thousands of voices came together, filling the venue with an overwhelming sense of unity and love and support for Stray Kids’ missing member. 

    Closing the set out with their song “Miroh”, Stray Kids said their goodbye to the crowd. As soon as they left the stage, it began pouring rain and everyone started to rush out of the venue. Similar to their hit song, “Walkin On Water“, in which the lyrics state “thrashing rain, I’ma bring the storm,” it did become a storm.

    Stray Kids’ set at the Governors Ball was an unforgettable experience for many. Their energy on stage was contagious, and the performances were filled with high-energy, despite the set time being pushed around.

    Now, Stray Kids are preparing to embark on their next world tour, RUN IT, which is set to begin in Seoul in July.

  • Bring Me the Horizon “Brings” North American Ascension Program to Nashville

    Bring Me the Horizon “Brings” North American Ascension Program to Nashville

    Bring Me the Horizon plays to a sold out show of nearly 20,000 people at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Photo credits to CeCe.

    Metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon recently stopped by Music City during their North American leg of their Ascension Program tour, playing to a sold-out show of nearly 20,000 at the iconic Bridgestone Arena. This tour directly follows the success of their most recent album, Post Human: NEX GEN:, which has been ranked as one of their highest selling records– hitting over one billion streams on Spotify. The North American Ascension Program tour was first announced back in early 2025 with the tour beginning later that year and being split into two parts. The first part of the tour took place from September-October 2025, while part two began in April and is expected to wrap up in October.

    The band stopped in Nashville on May 7 to play a sold-out show alongside openers Amira Elfeky, The Plot in You and Motionless in White. The nearly four hour long show began with solo artist and Connecticut native Amira Elfeky. Once Amira’s set wrapped up, Metalcore band The Plot in You performed, followed by the highly anticipated band Motionless in White

    Around three hours after the show began, it was finally time for the main act, Bring Me the Horizon, to hit the stage. As the lights went down, two of the screens near the stage lit up to reveal E.V.E. an AI Android from the band’s lore, who stated that she would take us through the concert and guide us through the church of GENXSIS. As the curtain dropped, the background behind revealed a church pulpit as red confetti spread throughout the GA floor, and the band finally joined the stage to perform, “DArkSide”.



    By the second song, ‘“House of Wolves”, the crowd was sufficiently hyped and thus began the main event of all rock concerts: the mosh pit. A circle pit formed near the back of the GA floor and fans began to run and mosh in circles to the heavy sounding song. Toward the end of the song, Lead singer Oliver Sykes encouraged the mosh pit to go even harder to match the hard hitting instrumentals in this back, and this is the first time of the night that we would hear Oliver’s practiced death growls.

    “Happy Song”, a fan favorite, was quite the performance as two women came out in cheerleader uniforms and stood near the edge of the stage to perform a synchronized choreography that mimicked a professional cheer. Near the third verse of the song, Oliver turned his back to the crowd, facing the camera, and asked the crowd to form a Wall of Death–a common ritual for mosh pits where the crowd separates into two sections and then those sections will run toward the middle together and mosh.

    “Nashville, I know you’re not gonna disappoint me,” Oliver said, hyping up the pit.

    After five songs in a row, the band took a break, and E.V.E. appeared once again to tell us that there has been a containment breach and that @NGELDUST (another character within the band’s lore) has escaped and is heading toward the church and that all should evacuate. Eve then disappears and a 3D figure of @NGELDUST bursts through the screens behind the band as they perform the hit song, “Kool-Aid”.



    One of the most interactive parts of the show was during “Antivist”, when Oliver picked a fan from the crowd to perform. The fan, Jessica, was dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, which helped to gain Oliver’s attention. There were some slight difficulties throughout the performance, but she was able to finish the incredible performance with Oliver’s assistance.

    Near the end of the show, Oliver slowed everything down and encouraged the crowd to hold up flashlights and to sing loudly to “Follow You”, which is an emotional song that carries the theme of following someone through anything if it meant that they stayed together. This song is one of their slower and more emotional songs, and some fans have even utilized it within their weddings.

    The night ended with the highly anticipated and TikTok viral song, “Drown”. Despite the crowd sitting through a four hour show, everyone was on their feet and hyped for this song as Oliver jumped off the stage and began to sing “Drown,” to fans in the crowd. One fan even gifted him a pink cowboy hat, which he wore the remainder of the show.

    The band promised to come back to Nashville soon, and judging by the quality of the show, is it clear why the show had sold out.

    Even though the second part of the North American Ascension Program has concluded, we will be seeing more of the band as they embark on the third leg of the tour in September, where they will hit nine new cities. Along with the tour, the band is also expected to release a re-recorded version of their debut album, Count Your Blessings, for their 20th anniversary, signifying that the year is nowhere near over for them.