As indie-pop group Joywave took the stage at the historic Newport Music Hall outfitted in dark blue silk pajamas, I knew right away I was attending the best slumber party I’d ever been to.
The group knows how to get a crowd dancing, and during the third show of their Permanent Pleasure tour, Columbus fans, and myself, obliged.
Starting off with “Graffiti Planet,” the intro to their latest album, Permanent Pleasure, which was released in May, they moved straight into the explosive anxiety-themed track, “Scared,” which was released as a single off the album in March.
The relatable lyrics “I wish I wasn’t scared” echoed through the crowd.
Experiencing the upbeat energy this band brings to a room makes you want to hop on the wave and ride along. The group’s stage presence was electric especially the group’s down-to-earth frontman, Daniel Armbruster, who danced around with the other members.
Maisie Fitzmaurice
By the time one of their biggest hit songs, “Tongues,” rolled around, I was already having a blast. Armbruster joked that while “Tongues” is a hype, up-tempo track, (the type that makes a crowd go feral), with the location of the venue sitting on The Ohio State University’s campus, it was the “calmest place here.”
This wasn’t Armbruster’s only comedic moment. Later on, he asks, “Did JD Vance go to college across the street? No? Just checking,” resulting in a laugh from the crowd.
If you’re wondering, vice presidential candidate and state senator JD Vance did, in fact, attend Ohio State in the 2000s, but I doubt he ever attended a show at the Newport as fun as this one.
Following “Tongues,” the crowd settled into a sway for newer songs including “787 Dreamliner” and “Sleepytime Fantasy.” Columbus was then treated to the dreamy-turns-rocking track, “Traveling at the Speed of Light.”
“And just like that, we’ve entered the hit portion of the set,” Armbruster says before performing their biggest song, “Dangerous,” a collaboration with Big Data that has accumulated just shy of 100 million plays on Spotify.
Young kids wearing sound protection danced with their parents gleefully as they heard a song they knew from radio plays.
Maisie Fitzmaurice
For the young adults in the standing room, “It’s a Trip!” from the band’s 2017 album, Content, was a favorite. This is unsurprising when considering the anthem appears on multiple indie bread-and-butter playlists. It’s a groovy one with a psychedelic vibe that matches the era of music at that time.
Much of Joywave’s songs emit the infectious ethereal synth waves and vocals associated with indietronica groups such as MGMT and Phantogram. Like MGMT, their unpretentious, yet electrifying vibe sets them apart from others who may be a little less delightfully weird.
However, their newest album relied heavily on electric guitar and strong drumming more so than previous ones. The transition the group showed from alternative popstars to rockstars could be seen in this performance.
Between the guitar solos, keyboard jams and drum stints, dramatic switches and false endings, the performance never turned stale. To my fellow indie kids, this tour isn’t one to miss.
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
