On Friday, May 29th, Little Dragon returned to Chicago to perform for a sold-out crowd at the Concord Music Hall. The fans in attendance rolled deep with people who knew every song and others who continued to sing the words standing in line at the bar or on their way to the bathroom. But those who didn’t sing along still rocked out with the band, dancing, jumping around and swaying from side-to-side—there was a powerful, uplifting energy from the crowd that Little Dragon both fueled and responded to all night.
The band’s chemistry was an incredible sight as each member of the band was smiling and ecstatic throughout the entire performance. A testament to their experience from years playing together on tour, the band’s pacing was seamless as they moved between songs featuring upbeat synth and fast drums to ethereal, hypnotic ballads. Their management of crowd energy allowed everyone to alternate between dancing excitedly and swaying peacefully. The diversity in their lineup highlighted the band’s many inspirations as they performed songs that varied from powerful vocal ballads to bouncing anthems to more bass-centric, EDM progressions.
What made the performance so unique was their choice to do extended instrumentals and riffs, bassist Fredrik Källgren Wallin and lead singer Yukimi Nagano occasionally paired off with their other two band members, Erik Bodin on the drums and Håkan Wirenstand on the keys, to create two alternating sounds that pushed and pulled and overlapped, each of them smiling excitedly at each other—they were clearly having as a great of a time as the crowd.
Yukimi, in a testament to their unity and humility as a tight-knit group, exited the stage first and left the band to perform without her, featuring solos and duets that chugged along and built toward a dramatic finish. When the rest of the band left the stage the crowd’s cheers didn’t falter for a moment and Little Dragon answered in due respects by performing an encore of three songs to close out the electric night. The crowd left elated and stepped outside to beautifully warm weather. Any Chicagoan that loves live performance knows: good music and summer nights is what Chicago does best.