Show Review: Noah Kahan Brings The Heat to Sold Out Wheatland Concert
Noah Kahan
w/ Jensen McRae
Toyota Amphitheatre
July 3rd, 2024
Review by Jared Stossel
Photos by Chris Tuite (courtesy of Live Nation Northern California)
Last night, the air in Wheatland, CA (about forty minutes outside of Sacramento proper) was coated in a thick film of humidity and heat as temperatures nearly peaked at 110 degrees. Northern California is in the middle of a massive heat wave, expected to extend throughout the holiday weekend and into early next week. Fighting off tremendous levels of heat exhaustion, thousands of Noah Kahan fans gathered together under the umbrella of a cloudless summer night at Toyota Amphitheatre to witness the singer-songwriter’s highly anticipated ‘We’ll All Be Here Forever’ tour. Even though it was difficult to stand in that heat for an extended period, Kahan put on an outstanding show for the NorCal crowd.
Opener Jensen McRae took the stage around 8:45 PM (the show’s start time was delayed 45 minutes due to the heat) and performed a stunning opening set. As soon as the clock struck 10:00 PM, Kahan and his band took the stage and launched straight into the energetic Stick Season single “Dial Drunk”. If not for the sweat dripping from my forehead, I would have forgotten all about the heat as I got completely lost in the words and sounds that Kahan transfixed the audience with. Kahan’s music, particularly the songs off his stunning third album Stick Season, feel much more suited for a cold New England winter, but his Wheatland performance proved that his songs are ideal for year-round occasions. “Our goal tonight is to make you feel bad and sad, and we’re gonna work damn hard to do that,” he humorously remarked to the audience amidst a roar of cheers, poking fun at the sometimes-depressing nature of the lyrics in his songs.
Kahan has been making music for several years now, mainly in the pop and alternative realm, but rose to prominence in 2020 when he began posting snippets of a folk-centric song that would become the breakout hit (and the concert’s finale) “Stick Season”. While glimpses of his past discography made appearances throughout the night (an acoustic performance of I Was / I Am’s “Godlight” and Busyhead’s “False Confidence), Kahan played a whopping seventeen songs from Stick Season.
Even with the late start, Kahan performed nearly twenty songs, and the audience was firmly planted in their spots throughout the night. About halfway through the show, Kahan popped up on a “B-Stage” where he performed two acoustic songs - “Growing Sideways” and “Strawberry Wine”, much to the delight of the crowd. A return to the main stage elicited a slew of hits to bring the night to a close including “She Calls Me Back”, “Call Your Mom”, and “Northern Attitude”, before wrapping up with a two-song encore of the emotionally packed “The View Between The Villages” and “Stick Season”. This was indeed one of the hottest concerts of the year, both literally and figuratively. Even though I was drenched in sweat, my clothes practically sticking to me as I walked by to my car late into the evening, I felt that I had witnessed something very special that evening in Kahan’s performance.
Noah Kahan’s ‘We’ll All Be Here Forever’ Tour continues tomorrow, July 5th with two shows at Berkeley, CA’s Greek Theatre. For more information on tickets and tour dates, click here.
Noah Kahan Set List
Dial Drunk
New Perspective
Everywhere, Everything
False Confidence
Forever
Come Over (acoustic)
Godlight (acoustic)
All My Love
Your Needs, My Needs
You’re Gonna Go Far
Homesick
Growing Sideways (B-Stage)
Strawberry Wine (B-Stage)
She Calls Me Back
Call Your Mom
Orange Juice
Northern Attitude
Encore:
The View Between Villages
Stick Season
