YUNGBLUD kicks-off Euro tour with The Nova Twins
I cannot tell you how happy I am to write about the first gig I’ve been to since the pandemic hit. Just a month before everything turned upside down, I hung out with Ocean Grove and Crossfaith in Madrid, and cherished that night as things turned very bleak, very quickly. Fast forward two years (which feel like the longest intermission between lifetimes), and the noticeable shift in music brings along new artists. Tonight, YUNGBLUD and Nova Twins make their Portugal live debut, kicking off a Euro tour that will be worth remembering.
The last time I was in Campo Pequeno, I had a night with Korn, who were making up for unfortunate events at Rock in Rio mere months before. A true blessing in disguise, as they had the headlining show proved to be one of the finest concerts that year in Portugal, considering how rare their appearance is.
It’s a hot summer afternoon in spring, to what feels like 30ºC, as the long lines of teenagers anxiously await to see their idol. Between LGBTQ+ flags, handmade signs, and everything in between, the Portuguese fan base showed up. Even famous local influencers, and known super fans wuant and Sea3PO got to greet the artist earlier today.
There’s also a very different feeling of the pandemic scenario, as restrictions have been lifted, allowing no-masks in the venue. It’s an impressive sight, as we look back to what we’ve all went through. And it’s very joyful to see how everything’s turned out.
7PM on the dot, British duo Nova Twins kicked down the door and made themselves known. Picking things up with new track “Antagonist”, their introduction to Portuguese fans was an immediate success.
Hitting track after track, mixing new singles “K.W.B.” and “Cleopatra” with absolute live staples “Bullet” and “Taxi”, it’s an incredibly tight set. Finishing things off with “Undertaker”, the duo know how to take an audience which might be unknown to the band, and turn them into fans, with an efficacy very few bands are able to.
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Within 30 minutes, the Nova Twins had made their mark, hopefully making a return to this side of the world after their sophomore record Supernova is released mid-June.
The short break to prep things for YUNGBLUD gave the audience some time to reel in what the Nova Twins had done. Catching some random conversations, you can only conclude reception was overwhelmingly positive.
Just as the clock strikes 8, a projection with bright red lips introducing the artist gets the entire Campo Pequeno screaming. And I mean, SCREAMING! The light goes up, the curtain comes down, and it’s absolute mayhem. YUNGBLUD is here for a show that nobody in this room will ever forget.
Kicking things off is “strawberry lipstick” and “parents”, which set the tone for the rest of the night of fun, as everyone is still in awe that the artist is performing before their eyes.
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Things get a bit funnier as YUNGBLUD practically begs the audience to make some sort of mosh pit, with little to no success. As he shouts “Wider! Wider!” — something he’ll insist in repeating at least another ten times in the next hour (I lost count after a while…) — things eventually settle with some jumping. This sudden realization that crowds react differently around the world shouldn’t be anything new, but considering the artist came off a US tour about a month ago, I understand the need to see the energy. It’s just we show it a bit differently.
“I Love You, Will You Marry Me” is now a modern classic, as we sing pouring our hearts out, while “fleabag” is the teenage theme of angst, a song that defines YUNGBLUD as one of the greatest artists of the current generation.
By the time we reach “Kill Somebody”, the lights go down to a more intimate setting, but also becomes the weirder moments of the night, as the performance is stopped twice by fans in the crowd, with people not feeling their best. While it does seem none of them fainted, it’s proof that the Travis Scott incident means safety during gigs is something taken very seriously by YUNGBLUD, which he prompts the audience to please only stop the gig if it’s something more urgent.
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Just after the cover of “I Think I’m OKAY”, a cover from the popular Machine Gun Kelly song, and debatably a better rendition, the encore brings back the high energy with “braindead!”, that get people dancing. Even as “god save me, but don’t drown me out” plays out, it’s “Machine Gun (F**k the NRA)” that becomes the ultimate closer of the night.
When you thought the night had ended, YUNGBLUD announces he’ll be at the back in the venue to greet fans before they go home, something of incredible sight, showing how great the fanbase has grown in the past few years. This is their generation now!
A big thanks to KINDA Agency for the opportunity to attend this gig!