Ohio rockers Citizen released what is easily one of the most iconic emo albums 10 years ago, Youth, and to celebrate the group embarked on a tour playing the album in its entirety. They were joined by Boston post- hardcore legends (and labelmates) Fiddlehead as their main support with other support acts Illusion, waveform*, Sanguisugabogg, Smut, Chronophage, Diztort, and Kumo 99. There were seven shows total, with different first opening bands per show date, and each show was sold out. The tour started in Queens, NY and ended in Anaheim, CA.
I had the opportunity to attend the June 15th show in Boston, MA at House of Blues for the 2nd show of the tour (originally the anniversary shows were limited to two- one in Chicago and the other in Boston). After a successful first night in Queens, and given the general reputation of Boston crowds-this show was set to be one for the books. And it was.
Considering that each date of the tour had a different first opener, I had no idea who was going to be the first opener for the Boston show and I was surprised (and impressed) by waveform* (also label-mates with both Citizen and Fiddlehead). waveform* was not what I expected because of the (largely) high energy, fast tempo songs of Citizen and Fiddlehead and their music was very slow, mellow, yet still good. Not to mention they were also down a member that night, yet they still sounded incredible and after listening to their music a bit more after seeing them, them being down a member during their live performance helped the songs seem like they were “reimagined” and going back and listening to their studio stuff after that hooked me in. I have a feeling waveform* will become huge, so definitely be sure to check out their music now before they take over the world!
After experiencing a more relaxed set before two back-to-back high energy bands, it was go time when Fiddlehead took the stage as main support at one of the biggest venues they’ve played in their hometown. As per usual, they knocked it out of the park and from the very first song to the last it was never a dull moment in their crowd. Mosh pits, crowdsurfers, finger pointing- no matter the song, those things all were constant. Their setlist heavily featured songs from their second album, Between the Richness, but included a few throwbacks from their debut. They also played two new songs from their newest album, Death is Nothing To Us (out August 18th), “Sullenboy” and an unreleased track “Fifteen to Infinity.” Their set in particular was a great way to celebrate the achievements of their first two albums and also build up hype for their third. The Fiddlehead pit was chaotic in the best way possible so having minimal time to regroup before Citizen’s set was hard, but at that point I was high off adrenaline so it didn’t really matter.
This was my third time seeing Citizen and they’re hands down one of my favorite bands to see live, they really know how to keep the energy going throughout. The band’s songs translate incredibly well in a live setting, expanding on the sound that they create in the studio. With an album as iconic as Youth, I knew I was in for a good time. The minute the opening riff of “Roam the Room'' started, a massive mosh pit broke out and there were crowdsurfers galore. There was never a dull moment during Citizen’s set, between the fact that they’re incredible live and the energy of the crowd was contagious. The “icon” status of Youth has meant they’ve played many of the songs off this album on other tours (“Sleep,” “Roam the Room,” “The Night I Drove Alone”),but there was something about hearing these songs live on a tour for this album changed the way I view these tracks. On top of that, being able to hear other tracks from this album that I have never heard in a live setting was awesome. It was the first time they’ve played these songs live in years, yet the way they were performed would make you think that they were setlist staples at this point. Their main set featured all of Youth, but their encore consisted of tracks off their latest record Life in Your Glass World along with one new song “If You’re Lonely.” The new track they played hinted that Citizen is definitely working on a new album or maybe new music from them in general is a lot sooner than we’d expect (maybe 2024 means we get blessed with a new Citizen album?).
All the bands on the lineup knocked it out of the park and this show solidified that Citizen is one of my favorite bands to see live. Besides just being incredible musicians, the energy that gets passed around during their set is incredibly contagious in the best way possible. While they did just finish up this tour, the newest track they just played definitely hints that they’ve got more up their sleeve. If they’re in the area and playing near you, you should definitely hit up the show as you will NOT be disappointed!
