Grapetooth Concert Review

By Madisen Gummer
Music Journalist

The full moon of Saturday, June 15, ushered in one of the greatest nights of revelry this summer, thanks to Grapetooth and their opening acts. Fanclub welcomed the crowd into Barracuda with their calm and smudged indie melodies. I had never heard of them before but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the native Austin band. Some of my new favorite songs from Fanclub include “Swear” and “Dreamers.” James Swanberg also helped hype up the crowd with his goofy set of call and response, dancing and licking beer off of the floor. He only has one released song, “It’s No Wonder,” but it’s undoubtedly worth a listen.

Grapetooth opened up their set with a new slow folk song they wrote on the road, almost as if they were preparing us with a little bit of calm before the wild storm that was the rest of their show. As soon as they started playing “Violent” and howled under the full moon, the crowd erupted into a mosh pit, and that was the last of the slow swaying for the night.

The Chicago born band took us on a convivial journey with their first and only album, including crowd favorites like “Blood” and “Red Wine.” Their stage presence and ability to capture an audience and make us feel the power of music within ourselves is absolutely undeniable, and that’s what made this one of the most memorable concerts I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to about 50 concerts so I feel like that’s saying something).

At the end of “Trouble” they invited everyone up on stage and we got to scream “I don’t mind living” and dance right alongside the band themselves. That lyric perfectly encapsulates the night. Life can be hard, but we don’t mind living because of the transcending effect music can have on us, and the way Grapetooth served it to us.

Concerts have a very ephemeral quality, and at the end of the show in Austin with the audience on stage, Grapetooth must have felt it too. They came back on stage for an impromptu encore and reprise of “Violent” and everyone went rowdy and wild one last time. The pure euphoria that nine of my best friends and I felt is almost indescribable, but the sweaty eccentric feeling of a truly astounding concert filled with moshing, stage diving, and crowd surfing is something that everyone deserves to experience.

Featured image taken by Madisen Gummer.