Photos by Samantha Skapin

Between the Ohio State game and the torrential downpour happening in Columbus last Saturday, Young the Giant’s Home of the Strange Tour still rolled through to Express Live! for an incredible sold out show with support from Ra Ra Riot.

I was actually lucky enough to catch the first show of the tour in Cleveland, so I knew exactly what i was in for; and it was going to be fantastic. After finally getting inside after sitting in line in the rain for a good thirty minutes, Ra Ra Riot opened up the Home of the Strange Tour. I’ve been a casual fan of this band for awhile, but seeing them earlier that week in Cleveland got me hooked. They opened with their song “Too Too Too Fast” off of their 2008 album The Rhumb Line. Wes Miles, the vocalist for Ra Ra Riot has such an incredibly powerful voice it’s hard not to be impressed with some of the notes he hits. The band also has a violinist (Rebecca Zeller) that accompanies on vocals in most songs in their set, which pairs perfectly with Miles as well as the bassist, Mathieu Santos. They had a good mix of songs that ranged their whole discography such as “Boy”, fan favorite “Can You Tell“, and the song “Water” from their newest album Need Your Light. Compared to the Cleveland crowd, Columbus was definitely more energetic and overall responsive to these guys which was great to see for such a talented act (come on Believeland). Overall, Ra Ra Riot was incredibly impressive with Wes’ huge range and the accompaniment of violin and cello. If you haven’t checked out their newest album Need Your Light , I highly suggest it!

Next up was what the sold out crowd was waiting for; Young The Giant. The band has had a huge year, with performances on talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel, and releasing their third studio album Home Of The Strange, which topped the iTunes Alternative charts. Now I’m a little biased because Young the Giant has been one of my favorite bands since their self titled album, so needless to say I was very excited to see them for a second time that week. The band came out on stage in costumes, (Sameer Gadhia, the vocalist in a bright orange jumpsuit) and went straight into a song, “Jungle Youth” off of their new album. With funky guitar parts supplied by Eric Cannata and Jacob Tilley, the band exploded with energy and the crowd answered, chanting the words right back. With backup vocals supplied by both Cannata and the drummer, François Comtois every song sounded so crisp and was almost as if an exact replica of the studio version. The band played a lot of their set non-stop with short breaks to talk about a couple of the songs they were about to play. It was great to hear how or why some of their songs were written, as most of Home of the Strange is written about the band’s immigrant history.  They played a range of songs from all three of their studio albums, but were sure to include old hits like “Apartment” and “I Got”, which the crowd loved. Overall, this set had so much energy (and was filled with Gadhia’s classic dance moves) that it was impossible to stop watching or dancing. If you ever get the chance to see these guys, please DO IT you will not regret it! But check out their newest album Home of the Strange so you can dance along with Sameer when you do.