Young the Giant Turns History Toronto Into a Victory Garden

The original plan was Coca-Cola Coliseum. Live Nation quietly moved it to History, and by the time Young the Giant hit the stage the venue was packed and it was hard to argue with the decision. It was a Monday in June, almost Monday you could say, the kind of day that makes the drive into Toronto worth it.

Almost Monday opened at 6:30 with the kind of sun-soaked, groove-forward indie pop that makes sense the moment you learn all three members grew up surfing in North County San Diego. Vocalist Dawson Daugherty, guitarist Cole Clisby, and bassist Luke Fabry moved through a tight set that included “jupiter,” “skinny dip,” and “no more regrets,” offering a warm-up that didn’t feel like one. The band has been building steadily since their debut album DIVE, and with a new record, THANK GOD IT’S ALMOST MONDAY, due September 9, they’re clearly hitting a stride. Before leaving the stage, they let the room know they’d be back in October to headline the Horseshoe Tavern on the 3rd. The crowd received that well.

Cold War Kids stepped up at 7:15 and wasted no time establishing themselves as more than a support act. Nine years ago, they toured with Young the Giant on the Home of the Strange run. Frontman Nathan Willett made sure nobody forgot that, telling the crowd how grateful the band was to be back on the road with YTG again. The moment of the set came early: Willett alone at the piano, opening “We Used to Vacation” with just his voice and keys before the rest of the band filled the room behind him. It was a quiet gut-punch that set a high bar. They also touched on “Hang Me Up to Dry,” “Hospital Beds,” and “Miracle Mile,” and Willett noted that “There Goes the Night” had been re-recorded, presenting it fresh for a crowd that still knew every word. Long Beach, California’s finest made a strong case for why this pairing made sense the first time and still makes sense now.

Then the lights dropped for Young the Giant.

Sameer Gadhia, Jacob Tilley, Eric Cannata, Payam Doostzadeh, and Francois Comtois have been doing this for nearly 20 years, and on this night in Toronto they played like a band that still can’t believe they get to. The set opened with “Evergreen” and “Superposition” before settling into a run through the catalogue that touched nearly every corner of what these five have built together. “Bitter Fruit” closed with a “Blackbird” outro. “Ships Passing” arrived with a “Titus Was Born” intro. “My Body” came with an alternate intro that shifted the familiar into something worth paying closer attention to. “Silvertongue” was partial but landed. “Cough Syrup” was, predictably, the moment the room became one thing.

Before “Different Kind of Love,” Gadhia took five minutes to talk. Really talk. He traced the band back to being 17, 18 years old, playing bar shows in the States where they couldn’t even legally be inside. He talked about the name, how they went from The Jakes to something else, how they were young and broke and naive and just stupidly brave enough to believe it could work. Then the conversation turned, and it got heavier and more interesting. He talked about children, about ego, about the part of yourself that forms when you’re young and then disappears so slowly you can’t find where it went. About choosing to have radical empathy in a world that treats it as a weakness. About Victory Garden being the five of them in a room again, playing with their limitations, writing music the way they did when they were kids who didn’t know any better. “So much of music and art we consume in everyday life is synthetic,” he said. “This record was just the five of us in a room.” He mentioned the new album had produced the band’s first number one single at alternative radio in Canada. Then he introduced the song as being about the kind of love that ages and compromises and sees the worst of the other person and chooses to stay anyway.

Gadhia also noted the room had two reasons to celebrate. Home of the Strange, released ten years ago this year, was one. Victory Garden, just over two months old, was the other. The setlist honored both.

The show closed with “Mind Over Matter,” which remains one of the better ways to end a night.

History was the right room. Coca-Cola Coliseum would have been bigger. This was better.

A huge thanks to Bernice Chan at Looters for the accreditation and support that made this review possible.

Young the Giant

Cold War Kids

Almost Monday

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Drew Osborne

I’m Drew, the founder and editor of Front of the Stage. I have a strong love for music and photography, which started at a very young age. There’s just something I love about experiencing live music and capturing memories that will last a lifetime, and that’s how Front of the Stage came to be.