It became abundantly clear from the large number of 16-somethings in the crowd at the sold out 9:30 Club Sunday night who knew every word to every song, that The Joy Formidable is at the pinnacle of their slow but steady climb to top-tier touring act.
I wasn’t quite sure if kids were ready for a serious band like The Joy Formidable in a landscape that’s littered with cookie cutter pop, so it was refreshing to see so many young faces in the crowd. I don’t feel so guilty about buying tickets for my own 3 teens for Tuesday night’s Baltimore show.
The band has crossed over from opening act to headliner with ease. They are absolutely one of, if not the single greatest live band touring today. It would not be a stretch to think that the next time they come through DC, they will be headlining a far larger stage, such as the one they shared with Foo Fighters at the Verizon Center in November of 2011.
They played an 11 song set that was a good mix of old favorites like “Austere” and “The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade” and new stunners “This Ladder Is Ours,” “Cholla,” and the “Maw Maw Song.” The band rarely slows down but did so only once for the new acoustic track, “Silent Treatment.” Their 3 song encore included album namesake and hidden track “Wolf”s Law.”
