Looking through the crowd at the Paradise Rock Club on Saturday night, there would be no definite conclusions you could draw about the bands that were about to play. Young, old and middle aged all impatiently asked each other when the music would start, their restlessness due to excitement rather than annoyance.

When Gabriella Cohen took the stage, the restlessness of the crowd focused in on the Australian singer songwriter as she let us know she was “here to chill us out before Foxygen”. And boy, did she. A stunningly androgynous voice backed by a big sound left the crowd asking for more as the opener finished their set.

And finally, Foxygen. A band that began in high school and has grown over the past 12 years into what we see today, Jonathan Rado and Sam France have no issue taking complete control of a room. A dancer dressed all in white posting up on stage next to France, the act is perfectly spontaneous, matching the mood of the crowd. Enforcing the idea that it’s Saturday night and anything can happen, France stops the show more than once to remind the crowd to behave.

Before the band left the stage, they dove head first into “Rise Up”, the last song on their 2017 record Hang. Particularly pointed due to the climate of the world today, the audience sang and swayed in unison. With an empty stage and the crowd cheering for an encore, an electricity ran through the room. Foxygen charmed us all in a way that only a big, glamorous rock band can. “Alright alright alright alright,” France says “I’ll play you some more of my beautiful music.”

Foxygen

Gabriella Cohen