Review and photos by Cher Dunn.
Snowpocalypse in NYC last Monday ruined a lot of plans for music fans, causing cancelled shows including Years & Years highly-anticipated first show in the US at Le Poisson Rouge. Fans with tickets for their show Tuesday at Rough Trade held on for hope, but were also told their show would be cancelled. Until the day of, when things turned around for the better.
Noticing the media hype outshined the actual storm, Rough Trade decided the show must go on, and a very excited London-based electro pop trio Years & Years told their fans to indeed come to the show that night. With all busses and transportation to NYC cancelled, I drove with friends from Philly. After seeing Years & Years play Dot To Dot Festival last year in Nottingham and getting a taste of their new music over the past year, I knew this show was going to be memorable.
We arrived at the venue at 8pm, with no opener fans gathered and danced to the pristinely curated mix Rough Trade blasted from the speakers that made everyone want to buy every record in the store. In the store gathered many fans who purchased tickets for the Le Poisson Rouge show, or were to slow to get tickets, hoping to get if any ticket holders didn’t show up. By the time the band took the stage, the venue was packed upstairs and down. There was a buzz and excitement in the room you couldn’t bottle, it was explosive, and so was the show we were about to see.
The band took the stage to roars from the crowd. When the band started playing on of their first singles, “Take Shelter” singer Olly Alexander smiled and looked surprised that the Brooklyn crowd was singing back all the lyrics at the top of their lungs. This continued into their next track “Desire”. It didn’t stop there- throughout the set, the crowd new the worlds to all of their released tracks, and their much loved cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Breathe”. The crowd got a taste of new tracks from their upcoming debut album which made anticipation for the album release reach a new level.
Years & Years are a band you need to see live. The show is so visual, it’s hard to take your eyes off multi-instrumentalists Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Turkmen as they change instruments throughout each song creating sounds that make Years & Years shows an absolute dance workout. Not only does their sound deliver, the amount of passion and energy Olly Alexander illuminates from stage is contagious. He sings each song with soul and conviction while dancing around the stage, and sounding that good while dancing that well is no easy feat.
Listening to the crowds reaction after the show ended, it’s safe to say that everyone in attendance really felt like they were a part of something special and we were. Years & Years are bound to blow up this year, deservedly so, and I am proud to say I was at their first show of many in the US.
Years & Years will be coming back to the US to play SXSW in Austin, TX in March with more shows including NYC to follow.
Years and Years 
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Reviewed by b3
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