Foster the People • Goth Babe • September 18, 2026 • Beddy’s Plaza at America First Field
Reviewed and Photographed by Ava Dalton
Mother Nature had other plans for Friday night in Sandy. Weather pushed back the start of Foster the People’s Good Mourning Sunshine Tour stop, and by the time Goth Babe took the stage, the crowd had spent a good portion of the evening waiting under a temperamental sky, and spirits were running low.
Goth Babe
At the start of the night, the lack of energy showed. The audience that greeted the opener was, to put it kindly, low on energy. However, Goth Babe didn’t need a warmed-up crowd to start the long-awaited party. Griff Washburn, the lead singer and mastermind behind the band “Goth Babe”, went straight to work, spinning around the stage and encouraging the audience to dance and sing along with him. In front of a slow and low-energy crowd, it had the potential to look forced. Instead, it came across as genuine love for the art of performing, and despite the unexpected weather changes, Washburn was determined to give the audience a good time.
At one point, he asked everyone to get low. Uniting the audience in one simple request, Goth Babe had the crowd dancing, moving, and singing. Through every cloudy minute, the lead vocalist kept the energy up and never let the gray skies change his energy. The vocals deserve their own mention.
Washburn’s voice was incredible live. His voice was clear, warm, and steady even while he was in constant motion. Plenty of artists lose vocal quality or technicality when they move that much, and he didn’t. Behind him, the bassist/synth player held the strength and steadiness of the music throughout the entire set, all while layering in the signature textures that make Goth Babe’s sound recognizable. While the band members did not interact much onstage, their connection was clear. Without even having to look at each other, they transitioned seamlessly through songs, phrases, and the overall set. Their unique groove and unique tone gave the set an energy and enthusiasm of its own, even when the crowd hadn’t yet found their energy.
As a previous fan of their music, I was impressed by their live performance quality. Their performance was amazing without the weather and delay, and including the weather and delay, it was beyond impressive. While the weather and the wait took a toll on the atmosphere and enthusiasm of the waiting crowd, it just made their set all the more admirable and impressive. Goth Babe did the hard work of an opening act, made even tougher by the circumstances; they showed up, gave everything, and left the crowd warmer than they found it and primed for the main event of the night. They started with a cloudy situation and left the crowd warm, buzzing, jumping, and ready for Foster the People
Foster the People
If the weather delay had done anything to the crowd at America First Field, by the time Foster the People was scheduled to take the stage, you would have no idea that the audience had spent the night soaked. Between sets, Beddy’s Plaza hummed with an anticipatory buzz. Nobody quite knew what the night would look like after the wait, with a delayed start time from those posted. However, the answer was soon made clear the second Foster the People walked on stage.
The energy in the room shifted immediately, and the crowd was screaming from the second the overture music started. The band’s entrance was what I can only describe as theatrical. Lead singer Mark Foster entered the stage from a glowing orange door at center stage, and the crowd, despite the rain, gave him a beyond warm welcome. Side-stage screens flashed comic book-style graphics, engulfing the band in their own animated world. After the opening moments, the house graphics carried the visuals for the rest of the show, covering the stage in bright colors that matched the band’s saturated and fun sound.
It was a full stage with five musicians, including two drummers. One of them doubled on synth, and the bassist did too. The result was a wall of sound that felt enormous. Oddly enough, it felt like an outdoor venue wasn’t big enough to hold their sound and energy. Foster the People knew exactly how to take their sound to the metaphorical ceiling, in our case, the rain clouds overhead. The crowd matched their energy instantly. It was clear that the audience was ready to show Foster the People the energy they had been holding in throughout the storms and delays. Dancing, spinning, and jumping broke out across the floor and stands, and this was a whole different energy than the anticipation earlier in the night.
My one complaint regards frontman Mark Foster’s vocals. They were incredible, but they deserved to be a little louder. At times they were overpowered by the instruments and the roar of the crowd. It was a small complaint in a night this energetic, but pulling the vocals a little more central to the mix would have made a great show even better. Closing with hit songs “Pumped Up Kicks” and “Sit Next to Me,” Foster the People wrapped up the night with a big bow of nostalgia, bright lights, and a feeling that only attending the show can truly portray.
It’s truly impossible to hold a real complaint to a show like this. The delay, the clouds, and the uncertainty all gave way to a band that knew exactly how to win a crowd back and put on a truly noteworthy and amazing show. Foster the People took a soaking wet crowd and a stormy Friday and turned it into a celebration of nostalgia, and I am truly so impressed with the professionalism and musicianship shown at America First Field that night.