Young The Giant, Milky Chance and Rosa Linn at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley

Rosa Linn kicked off the evening with the sun still high in the sky, tearing through a 30 minute set supported by a guitarist and a backing track in front of an already packed general admission floor. Her voice no doubt commanded attention, but the crowd visibly perked up when she played “that song” … the dots connected and the lightbulbs went on as the realization dawned on the crowd, “ohh she does THAT song!” In this case “that song” was “Snap” and there’s no doubt that the Berkeley crowd would remember the name Rosa Linn.

Next up was Milky Chance and their “Summer Haze Tour 2023” celebrating the June release of their fourth full-length album, Living in a Haze, with an hour packed with the thumping beats of their special brand of Berlin dance music. In no time, the band had the crowd on its feet, dancing and singing along during their high-energy set that sure felt like it would be tough to follow!

Of course headliners Young The Giant were up to the challenge. Having not toured in 4 years and with a new(ish) album, American Bollywood (released November 2022), there was clearly some pent up demand, such that when the black curtain that hung across the top front of the stage was finally yanked down revealing a huge mirrored disco ball, the audience went nuts!

The band wasted no time blasting right into title track to American Bollywood followed by “Wake Up,” much to the Berkeley crowd’s delight. Clearly the band was pumped to finally get a chance to play the new material live in front of the Bay Area Crowd. That said, they clearly had no intention of ignoring the fan favorites, pulling out “Cough Syrup” early on at which point the energy in the Greek stepped up dramatically leading to a literal mic drop moment as frontman Sameer Gadhia fumbled his microphone and watched it tumble off the stage where it was quickly snapped up and returned by a photographer.

Young The Giant diverged briefly from their tour setlist for a rare performance of “I Bite,” a deeply personal (and heavy) track about Gadhia’s father before returning to the regular run of show.

The band sounded absolutely fantastic with vocals on point and energy at a level that was unexpected for anyone that’s followed the band along its 20+ year career. Talk about longevity! When the band wrapped up their 1 hour and minute set not far past 10 pm with “My Body” an an entire outdoor amphitheater on its feet, it was hard to ignore not only how far the band has come, but also how well that self-titled debut as held up. This is definitely not a tour to be missed by even the casual fan.

Young The Giant

Setlist