Written by Elie Pichanick
Photo by Elie Pichanick
Just four years and eight months since Noah Kahan, folk-infused pop sensation, had his first headlining show at The Foundry in Philadelphia, he sold out The TD Pavilion at the Mann with an audience of fourteen thousand fans. Arriving at the concert, the atmosphere was euphoric. The excitement amongst the fans radiated in the lines for water ice and merchandise and grew more and more as the opener, Joy Oladokun, took the stage.
All fourteen thousand fans began screaming as Noah Kahan took the stage around 8:45 pm. He sang the first lyric to his song, ‘All My Love‘, and the crowd immediately joined in as they jumped up and down to the beat of the music. Accompanying him, Noah Levine on guitar, Alex Bachari on bass, Marcos Valles on the drums, and Dylan Jones on the banjo and piano. Noah Kahan periodically took two steps back to let the crowd chime in for parts of the chorus.
On June 9th, Noah Kahan released the highly anticipated extended version of his ‘Stick Season‘ album, titled ‘Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)‘. For the weeks prior, fans posted all over social media about their excitement for the upcoming release; which included an extended version of ‘The View Between Villages‘, featuring an extra verse and spoken interludes where community members from Noah Kahan’s hometown of Strafford described their experience growing up in town. A number of times throughout the show, Noah could be seen taking out his earpiece so he could hear the tens of thousands of fans screaming the words to a song that had been released only two days prior to the show.
Noah Kahan brought out Mt. Joy, an alternative rock band originally based in Philadelphia, to sing their unreleased song ‘Emily’. He also brought out his opener, Joy Oladokun, to sing the song that made him viral, ‘Stick Season‘.
Noah sang his way through songs that had meanings that varied from living in a small town in new england to hard times in relationships to suffering from depression and anxiety. Noah is a major advocate for mental health as he mentions in his show that “even the happiest person in the room should be in therapy”. Everything from his performance to the songs he sang was incredibly moving. Many fans were in tears, and thousands held up their flashlights during some of his songs.
As the show came to a close he quickly waved and ran off stage. Fans screamed and clapped their hands for an encore, and soon Noah and his band came back out. This is when he sang ‘The View Between Villages’ and ‘Stick Season’. He closed the show with his hit song ‘Mess‘ that he released as part of his ‘Busyhead‘ album in 2019. If Noah Kahan is performing in a city near you, don’t hesitate to purchase tickets. It’s an experience that you will remember for a very long time.
