Noah Kahan • Jensen McRae • July 9, 2024 • Utah First Amphitheatre
Reviewed by Kevin Rolfe
Photos by Vanessa Holt
It was an epic scene out at Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre. It wasn’t just a sold-out crowd. That would be awesome on its own. But there was a buzz in the air I had not felt in some time. There had been an anticipation for the show the moment it was announced. I don’t remember a show being talked about quite so much. If I wore my I Was/ I Am Tour shirt out of the house, someone for sure would compliment me and ask me if I was going to the show. It was so exciting to walk into Utah First Amp and see all the excitement.
Utah Concert Review has its own little history with Noah. It’s been really fun to see artists grow in their careers. Kahan is one of those for us. We were there with him when he sold out the 300-capacity venue The State Room. UCR had the opportunity to cover Noah Kahan when he opened for James Bay at The Union Events Center. It’s so cool to see Noah now the headliner and have James Bay open for him later in the tour.
We even had the opportunity to interview him a couple of times. He was an upstart singer-songwriter with only his Hurt Somebody EP released. Our second interview took place after his debut album Busyhead was released. He was humble and gracious, and I had a great time chatting with him. It has obviously been a while since we’ve been able to interview Noah, but from the dozens of interviews I’ve listened to in recent months, he still seems to be the same funny, and humble guy. It makes it easy to root and be happy for someone having this kind of success when they still seem rooted despite their skyrocketing career. I couldn’t wait to see him at Utah First Amp in front of this huge 20,000-capacity audience.
Jensen McRae
The show began with Jensen McRae. It’s typical for an opener to have the responsibility of setting the tone for the night. But the tone was set when people scanned their tickets. McRae was free to perform her musical poetry without the pressure of getting the crowd excited. Excitement was not an issue for this throng of people. And while the Noah fans were at about their boiling point to see the headliner, I thought they were very attentive and supportive of McRae.
Jensen McRae performed the song “Our Daughter” or “My Daughter” for the first time live. It was an emotional song that had the audience captivated. The highlight of her set was the closer, her single, “Massachusets”. Jensen was joined on stage by none other than Noah Kahan. This kind of thing rarely happens. You almost never see a headliner come out before their set. But when it happens it’s pretty exciting. I really enjoyed Jensen McRae. I hope she has the opportunity to play her own show here in Utah. She’d do very well here.
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan took the stage to a roaring audience. I don’t know him at all. Like I said, I’ve interviewed him twice and it was years ago. But I’ve enjoyed watching his career develop and I felt like I was watching an old buddy walk on stage and have his well-deserved moment. Noah seems so humble. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an artist walk onto a stage so casually and meekly to a more rabid crowd.
Kahan opened the show with “Dial Drunk” from his blockbuster album, Stick Season. In fact 17 songs from the 22 song set were from the album. I’m not sure I’ve seen a setlist so packed with so many songs from one album outside of Guns N Roses Use Your Illusion I & II. But it makes sense. That album shot Noah into the stratosphere. Playing “Dial Drunk” first quickly dispelled any thought of Post Malone appearing on stage at the concert. There had been some speculation whether Noah Kahan would invite the Utah resident to join him in a song they dueted on. I think everyone was fine without the Posty appearance. The song got a thunderous applause. Well, pretty much every song did.
Noah shared with the audience that he had played Utah quite a few times but that this was by far the largest audience he had ever played here. He commented that he felt like Utahns seemed to be historically happy people. The crowd loved that and roared their cheerful approval.
As much as I loved the songs from Stick Season, I was really excited to hear “False Confidence” from Kahan’s debut album, Busyhead. I think my only criticism, and it’s not even a critique, it’s just one fan’s preference, I would have loved to have heard more songs from Busyhead. Songs like “Hurt Somebody” or “Young Blood” would have been amazing. One fan even shouted out that they wanted to hear “Carlo’s Song”. I must state though, that even without hearing these earlier gems, the setlist was strong.
A little after halfway through the show, Noah left Utah First Amphitheatre’s mainstage and made his way to the front of the lawn where a B Stage was set up. I love it when artists do this. It gives those in the general admission lawn a chance to see the artist up close. He stepped up onto the stage blowing kisses to the massive crowd.
Noah told the lawn, “You guys are so dope I wanted to get as close to you as I could possibly get”. He shared that people ask him why he tours so much. And as with his tour winding down, he told us that he does it because of people like us. “Watching you guys watch the show makes my whole life worth it. It means a lot” He performed “Growing Sideways” and “Strawberry Wine” before returning back to the main stage to finish out his set.
Noah Kahan closed his main set with “Northern Attitude”. The audience sang along so loudly that there were times I couldn’t even hear Noah. He seemed grateful and blown away at the response. Not only for the sing-along but also for how the audience was the entire night. Which says a lot because I bet each stop on the tour was filled with fans who are so devoted and connected to Kahan like we are here in Utah. As machines dropped snow fell from the sky, we felt for a minute as if we were out of the summer heat and in Vermont, Kahan’s home state.
Noah returned to the stage in a Utah Grizzlies jersey. I’m thinking people from Utah’s new NHL franchise, Utah Hockey Club, would have loved to give him some merch to wear during his encore. But it was fun to see him donning the minor league jersey. Kahan treated the audience to an extended version of “The View Between Villages”. There was no question about what the show closer would be. As the guitar riff began for “Stick Season” the audience, who had been simply amazing the entire night, gave everything they had left in their voice to sing along to every word. As the song came to a close, in true Vermont fashion, autumn leaf confetti fell from the summer sky. The snow, and the autumn leaves were just a small sample of the great artistic detail that went into the set and lighting of this show.
With a simple “Thank Yall, take care”, Noah Kahan and his great band bowed and walked off stage. Throughout the night I couldn’t help but reflect on the times I had seen Noah perform live. To go from a small club to this massive amphitheater is an amazing story that I’m happy I’ve been able to witness from the outside looking in. I think Noah Kahan is here to stay. There’s no doubt that he’ll have a dedicated fanbase here in Utah. I look forward to his return.