Experimental indie rock artist Alex G came to perform in San Diego at the SOMA mainstage on August 6 to kick off a month-long summer tour. Despite no new music except an original motion picture score of the film “I Saw The TV Glow” SOMA packed a sold-out crowd for a high thrills night. Grunge aesthetic clothing was aplenty in line as fans were murmuring to one another what songs they’d hear in the hours to follow.
Three-piece shoegaze band, julie was the opener for Alex G, and a perfect one at that. Their grunge sound made for a welcome soundscape within the trenches of the barricades. Lead singer and bassist Alex Brady, and guitarist Keyan Pourzand traded vocals on songs, droning out their voices to heavy distortion. Giant, sweaty mosh pits began to erupt throughout the venue, launching myself from the middle of the crowd to the second row to barricade by the end of the night. As with attending shows at SOMA, body heat from closed-in crowds, made people sweat profusely, intensifying the crowd already riled up from julie’s raw performance.
After the mosh pit frenzy, friends and couples who were separated before were looking to find each other. Once things calmed down, the anticipation grew each minute for those show lights to finally dim. Then once they did, waves of people were cheering and yelling out to the rock band when they walked on stage. Smoke and colored lights surrounded the group as they went right into their set, and put on an unforgettable show.
Highlights from the set included the opening song, “Gretel” which translated from the studio to the stage, carried a more lively energetic tone. Fans sang along word for word and took out small digital cameras and even Nintendo 3DS cameras to take pictures of their favorite artist. “Runner” was another track that showgoers went crazy for, immediately identifying the song by its opening piano and guitar chords. Alex G, whose real name is Alex Giannascoli, matched the loose and garage rock environment, turning his back to the crowd and strumming his guitar beside guitarist Samuel Acchione and drummer Thomas Kelly. Rectangular panel lights would be lit and move across all different patterns depending on the song behind the band as they played.
Alex G fans, known for sometimes being a little wacky and viral for their antics, at one point chanted for Alex to take his socks off for jokes, to which he jokingly replied the crowd should all be ashamed of themselves. During a brief moment of technical difficulties, Giannascoli stalled for time, by reading corny jokes online to the audience. The one he read went as follows. Why was Cinderella so bad at soccer? She kept running away from the ball! Truly, the night of music had no shortage of fun.
With only a few songs remaining in the set, Alex openly told the crowd they had a song or two left before they went into a 20-30-minute encore. Quite the welcoming notification to the opposing view of everyone knowing that the band will come back on stage eventually to play more music. The group went on to play “Gnaw” in the encore set, a more somber song played on his accompanying keyboard that was grouped in with his more emotional tracks. They also played Mary, a fan-favorite, to which everyone in the crowd was singing along while simultaneously recording on phones before the band gave a swift goodbye and thank you.
In what I expected the show to be nothing more than an elaborate acoustic performance, being accustomed to listening to Alex G’s music, became an exciting show that made the constant sweat from my head more than worth it to stay for. Alex G hits all the emotional beats, and then some as his live performance provided the ideal show to be at with fans alike.
Photos by Roman Aguilar