If you have listened to the radio, streamed music on Spotify and Apple Music or opened up TikTok recently, you are sure to have come across music from emerging indie-folk artist, Noah Kahan. Though he first started writing and performing music back in 2017, he has recently gained great popularity with his latest album “Stick Season,” and has since been touring, performing songs from this album live all over the country.
As an avid fan of Kahan’s for quite a few years now, I was excited for the release of “Stick Season” last fall, and was even more excited when I scored tickets for his Stick Season Tour at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Mass. last weekend. Having grown up in New England, much of Kahan’s music demonstrates a lot of self-reflection, feelings of claustrophobia in small towns and feelings of being torn between staying in one’s hometown or moving far away and experiencing the world. His songs and lyrics resonate with a lot of his fans, including myself, so I could not wait to see him perform them live in front of a crowd.
Of course, I was excited to hear and scream-sing along to some of his more popular songs live such as “Dial Drunk,” “Stick Season” and “Homesick.” And hearing a crowd full of people born and raised in New England scream the lyric “I’m mean because I grew up in New England” pretty much made my entire year. Some of my favorite songs by Kahan are “Orange Juice” and “Maine,” so to see those performed live as well felt like a privilege.
One song that really surprised me — as it turned out to be my favorite song live — was “Carlo’s Song”. Kahan explained to the crowd that he wrote this song for his friend Carlo, and enjoys playing it on his tour to keep his memory alive. It was an absolutely beautiful experience to hear this song live, to see the entire venue lift their flashlights and hear the crowd singing the lyrics, and I was almost brought to tears. “Carlo’s Song” has since become one of my favorite Noah Kahan songs.
Kahan’s sense of humor was also what made his concert so enjoyable. In between songs, he would make jokes that made the entire crowd burst out into laughter. We had lawn seats, so there was plenty of room for us to dance and sing along with complete strangers who were also huge fans of Kahan. The whole night was an incredible experience and I can confidently say that it was one of my favorite concerts I have ever been to.
If the opportunity to see Noah Kahan live in concert ever presents itself to you, I urge you to buy the ticket! It is so well worth it.
Leave a Reply