By Gina Lopez //
Joywave with Sasha Sloan, Kopps //
Swedish American Hall – San Francisco
February 16th, 2018 //
New York-based synthpop outfit Joywave made a splash last Friday at Swedish American Hall during their North American tour stop in SF.
The Rochester band, which performed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” this month, electrified the sold-out crowd that also witnessed opening sets from Sasha Sloan and Kopps beforehand. Fronted by lead vocalist/guitarist Daniel Armbruster and likened to Weezer and OK Go by some other music media outlets, Joywave, nevertheless, have a sound of their own that’s genre-jumping and experimental.
Inside the venue, the stage was embellished with obsolete computers and colorful projections of 8-bit renderings. Even the psychedelic elephant scene from “Dumbo” appeared behind the band as they performed songs from their sophomore LP Content, which was released in 2017.
At one point during the gig, an animated projection of an Italian flag waved on the screen in honor of Joywave guitarist Joseph Morinelli, who apparently hacked the projection program. The outdated computer décor illustrated the theme behind Content, which is pronounced as the adjective and not the noun in defiance of the endless online content that can becloud our human connections. The crowd at Swedish American Hall was clearly connected to Joywave’s music, and it was clear that those in attendance were indeed content with what they heard.
I had recently purchased tickets for his June 15th concert. I purchased it just for $30 from eTickets.ca. If you people are also looking for cheap tickets for his concert try it. They still have the tickets available.