Evaluate | Considering, Sounding Large, Younger the Big Livens Up the Santa Barbara Bowl

It was not simply one other live performance evening out on the Santa Barbara Bowl when Younger the Big boldly took the stage on Friday, August 18. As a substitute, the present unfolded as a dynamic and dramatic return to touring motion, a triumphal event after COVID interruptus and a celebration of a band — with roots going again to 2004 — which manages to be each considerably adventurous and accessible.

Led by charismatic however relatable entrance man Sameer Gadhia, the live performance felt epic, regardless of its falling shy of 90 minutes, a part of a four-hour, three-act live performance additionally that includes Rosa Linn and Milky Likelihood. Every band member was bedecked in a unique shade, Gadhia seizing the highlight in white garb (like white-wearing Godhead John Lennon on the Abbey Street cowl), and the stage set had the look of an elaborate and unique, mirror-flecked parlor with Indian overtones (American-born Gadhia is of Indian heritage).

Interspersed with quick, quasi-philosophical movie segments tying in with the semi-cinematic nature of the band’s newest album, American Bollywood, the live performance itself got here geared up with a loosely narrative construction set into 4 acts — “Origins,” “Exile,” “Battle,” and “Denouement.” Off to the facet of the band’s electro-rock-pop palette, a cellist and violinist have been perched on a riser, though they served as window dressing — seen however not often heard.

However minor quibbles pale into the margins of appreciation, because the band roared with precision over a setlist culled from its now five-album discography, together with the anthemic earworms of the well timed “Warmth of the Summer season” and the related “Cult of Character.”

Following their best-known hit and title observe of their 2014 album Thoughts Over Matter, the “Battle” part of the night was capped off by the emotional downshift of the sector ballad “Firelight.” For the event, Gadhia tipped his hat to the sense of getting survived the pandemic — collectively and inside his touring circus of a band — and invited the viewers to have interaction in a basic “lighter second” with cellular phone illumination. They/we have been greater than prepared, and the glowing sea of telephone lights unfold over the gang of 4,500 synched up superbly with the savory sentimental glow of the tune.

Returning to the stage after a break within the motion, the vitality degree bumped up a notch or three within the “Denouement” part, together with “Superposition” and a finale of “My Physique.” As if channeling a spirit of renewed fervor, Gadhia belted out its finalizing lyric, “My physique tells me no however I received’t stop / ’Trigger I need extra, ’trigger I need extra / And it rides out of city.”

Friday’s opener Linn possesses a giant, spectacular voice value conserving observe of. Right here, she was restricted to a duo format, with prerecorded band tracks, which made for a quasi-karaoke setting. However clearly, she’s onto one thing large.

A full-hour-long set the stage for the Big within the electro-eclectic-rock format of German band Milky Likelihood, whose career-launching hit “Stolen Dance” gave the band a global platform beginning in 2013. In one in every of Milky Likelihood’s signature parts, a usually taut, slick band sound is offset by the tough and generally reggae-tinged edges in lead singer Clemens Rehbein’s vocal mode.

In a proud proprietary civic second, Rehbein gushed about having obsessively watched the legendary live performance video of Bob Marley’s 1980 live performance on this “home.” He effused to the gang, “It’s loopy that we’re now taking part in right here.” His dream has come true, and we have been there to witness it, in groove-ular motion.