Young the Giant at the Riviera

Life is Chaos.  That's why I spent Friday evening in the emergency room instead of seeing Walk the Moon and Young the Giant as I had planned.  My dear, lovely roommate got doored while riding her bike.  Thankfully, she was wearing a helmet and is ok, but it was still terrifying.  I called upon my friend Joe to attend the concert and report back with his thoughts. Read on below:

"A couple hours before going to the show, I had never heard of Young The Giant, but a quick Youtube search proved that I was definitely familiar with their music. The band was formed way back in 2004 in Irvine California, but it wasn't until 2010 that they exploded onto the national scene after the success of their hit song, “Cough Syrup” brought them a record deal with RoadRunner Records and the release of their debut album. The album received widespread critical acclaim and their three singles all rose the charts rapidly. They performed at the 2011 MTV Music Video awards, and earlier this week “Cough Syrup” was featured on the hit show, “Glee.”

The music was good, solid, but all around, unimpressive. Aside from a few exceptions, there wasn't much emotion in the music. One could say they lacked soul – which was particularly apparent considering that most of the songs were carried by the vocals.

That isn't to say that the singer wasn't good. Sameer Gadhia has an incredible voice, and seemed to easily be the most talented of the band members.  He did a good job of getting the crowd involved – at one point folding the set list into a giant paper airplane. In general he seemed to really enjoy the music and being on stage, and he played the hell out of his tambourine – some of my favorite moments of the show were of him rocking his tambourine all over the stage. I also appreciated that his use of production affects – distorting his voice slightly and creating echoes – was kept to a minimal and very appropriate amount so that the result really was something cool.

The best part of the show was the start of the encore. The band came back out all wearing obnoxious, gaudy fur coats. Then, as a tribute to playing in Chicago, they covered R. Kelly's “Ignition Remix,” which was really cool.

I hate to sound too critical. The band obviously writes very good music, and the sheer size of the crowd brought an extra level of excitement. It was definitely a good show and I'm glad I went, but I just wasn't wowed by anything and just don't see the justification for their popularity. "

Editor's note: I still love 'em.