For two bands who hit the radio jackpots more than ten years ago, Milky Chance and Young The Giant can put on a show that feels, more than anything, youthful and energetic.
On Saturday, the two bands played back to back during their sold-out Portland stop at McMenamins Edgefield on their summer 2023 tour — Young The Giant as the headliner, Milky Chance as the supporting act, though both played for more than one hour.
And they brought the energy. German group Milky Chance kicked off the show and immediately brought the crowd to their feet, with loud, danceable indie rock anthems like “Synchronize” and “Ego” starting the show off with a bang.
It’s safe to say Milky Chance will never have another song nearly as popular as “Stolen Dance”, but their live catalogue proved to be a crowd pleaser to both diehard fans and those unfamiliar with the band’s discography. Lead singer Clemens Rehbein’s uniquely accented crooning voice — a voice hard to misidentify — electrified the crowd, along with bassist Philipp Dausch’s ability to groove and interact with the audience while alternating between shredding his electric and bass guitars.
The set was consistently high energy, with sparse but fun crowd interaction — including the Edgefield-obligatory request to ask the lawn audience to stand up, it’s a long lawn after all.
After a cover of “Tainted Love”, followed by classic hits “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Flashed Junk Mind” and “Stolen Dance”, the band was riding a high, and they had the audience right where they wanted them, before they accelerated even more with the final songs of their performance, “Running” and “Sweet Sun”, making the set particularly impressive.
It’s true, Milky Chance might go the rest of their career unable to top their debut album, Sadnecessary, but hearing their live performance and seeing where the band has evolved, it’s clear they have been far from static in the time since. They’ve evolved in their own, less radio friendly way, but have stayed true to their authentic indie dance rock selves, and the crowd at Edgefield wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Young The Giant
Following Milky Chance’s spirited performance, the audience was hungry for more dance music, which was likely the cause for Young The Giant’s rocky start to their performance.
After a minute long video of characters moving on a projector screen, the five-member band came out to “American Bollywood,” a powerful song that accelerates and sets the stage for a big show. But it’s not exactly a danceable song, and the crowd wasn’t in the mood for anything that wasn’t high energy, which also led to a disappointed response to the next song, “Wake Up,” another slower anthem.
But of course, Young The Giant has been doing this a long time and they know how to hold their own for a sold out crowd, shown in the more energetic second half of the set. After playing “Cough Syrup,” the group’s most popular song, the energy returned to a modestly high point, and the band rode that energy through the end of the set. With catchy, singable tracks like “I Got” and “My Way,” the band was able to capture the crowd’s attention for the duration of the show.
Young The Giant’s live music sounds like arena rock made for a small indie-focus venue, and it does its job well. The group’s best feature is strong, catchy vocals and impressive production value, making a song like “Tightrope” feel like the glossy pop of Harry Styles meeting the gritty, complex production of the Arctic Monkeys.
Lead singer Sameer Gadhia’s vocals carried the band through the performance, captivating the audience and keeping the crowd on their feet deep into their 90 minute set.
The ending to the regular set was aptly curated, with “Tightrope” followed by “Mind Over Matter,” a slower, bass heavy song that blends into synth pop — which works for Young The Giant surprisingly well.
The encore came together nicely too, with “Superposition”, “Silvertongue”, and “My Body” — all old crowd pleasers for the band — leaving the audience on a high, with little memory of the slow start to the set.
Though Milky Chance and Young The Giant continue to put music out, they have remained underdogs in today’s pop scene. Though their names might not top radio charts recently, as the crowd filtered out of Edgefield Saturday night, you got the sense that the bands’ marks on music have been made, and they have no intention of letting us forget it.
— Carlos Fuentes
The Stumptown Groove 