(Photo by: Wilson Benton)
Local Natives played to a packed house Sunday night at The Lyric Oxford.
The performance was one of many on its Sunlit Youth tour, and the audience came ready to sing along to hits from its new album.
Montreal-based group Little Scream opened for Local Natives, performing songs from its album “Cult Following,” as well as one of its new singles, “People.”
The group faced some technical difficulties with a microphone and monitor on stage, and it had to restart one of its songs mid-intro, but it quickly recovered and was back to playing its up-tempo folk rock jams in no time, getting the crowd moving and singing along.
Following the opening band, Local Natives came on stage with a charisma that radiated through the room, and the crowd immediately started dancing and singing along to hits such as “Dark Days” and “Fountain of Youth.”
The audience was vocal from the beginning, garnering a comment from singer Kelcey Ayer about how “shouty” they were.
The band gave an energetic performance, coupled with room-shaking bass and drums and a mesmerizing light show.
During “Villainy,” lead singer Taylor Rice leapt off the stage and walked through the audience, singing to the crowd as hands went up all around him, and again during the encore performance, Rice jumped off the stage to crowd-surf.
(Photo by: Wilson Benton)
The band also played its new song, “I Saw You Close Your Eyes,” which released online earlier last week.
After the first set, the band returned to the stage to play its final two songs, “Masters” and “Sun Hands,” in an encore performance.
“It was amazing,” Rice said after the show. “This is a beautiful town. We had a perfect day, and the crowd was a bunch of college kids going crazy. It was super fun. It surpassed all expectations because I had none going in.”
Following the performance, the band stayed behind to take pictures and meet with fans.
“It went great, better than expected for sure,” Matt Frazier, drummer for Local Natives, said. “It’s always interesting going to a new place, not knowing much about it or if you’re going to have a solid fan base. The crowd was very enthusiastic, and that’s always exciting for us. There was a palpable energy in the room. It feeds us in a way.”
(Photo by: Wilson Benton)
