Naked Giants press photo taken by Rachel Bennett

Walking into Brighton Music Hall in Allston on Harvard Ave, I was met with Talking Heads playing over the speakers and a buzzing, small crowd on Thursday, March 24 before alternative/indie garage rock band Naked Giants was set to play. With openers Sorry Mom, a New England based femme, queer punk band, and Chicagoan post punk band Ganser, Naked Giants’ openers set up the night for high energy and righteous feelings.

From the start of their set, Sorry Mom had the audience moving and bopping, opening with lines “Cool cool party // I don’t love you anymore” from their song “awesome party, dude!” The band sang with honesty and authenticity, carrying a raw sound with a raspy vocalist who was not afraid to laugh at themselves.

The band members were each other's biggest fans, made clear by the drummer who sang all the words to all the songs with all their might despite not having a mic or being a vocalist– they sang because their heart was in it. Not to mention the drummer was absolutely incredible and carried the entire band; Sorry Mom would not be the band they are today without the talent of the drummer who was purely there to rock. By the middle of their set, Sorry Mom played their most popular song with 5 million Spotify streams from their EP Juno Goes to the Big House: “I Fucked Yr Mom.” Here, I really got to see the what the band was all about in a playful, raunchy, story-telling format that was in your face whether you liked it or not, coming to the conclusion, “I fucked your mom twice.” Their final and best song was their single released in 2021 “Best you had.”

Second opener Ganser brought a different energy from the intense, playful punk of Sorry Mom, stepping out in fringe, eclectic clothing and a collective quietness. Ganser moved at a slower pace and had an essence of mystery and funk to their music. The group’s stage presence was fierce— the bassist looked out into the audience with captivating eyes while across the stage, the guitarist was jumping all around, playing for himself and the sound.

Naked Giants took the stage around 9:50 p.m. calm and collected, with drummer Henry LaVallee in a Grateful Dead t-shirt and guitarist/vocalist Grant Mullen in a black leather button-up. Bringing the most energy of the night by far, Naked Giants savored the moment of purely performing and celebrating their return from COVID, “It’s weird to be doing this touring thing especially since we’ve been sleeping on our beds the past two years,” said bassist Gianni Aiello.

The band opened with the title track from their most popular album SLUFF, singing “Can’t live without you baby // already dead” with an upbeat energy to a crowd filled with youthful yells and friskiness. In the middle of “TV,” Mullen had a long, chilling guitar solo which demonstrated the band's talent and musical capability as the audience responded with pure awe and shouts of appreciation. Aiello added his own flair and picked up his bass, threw it behind his head, and started playing his bass from behind himself. That moment was the highlight of the night and an unexpected display of rock stardom.

The band gradually transitioned the vibe of the night from upbeat, loud, and rambunctious to more mysterious and psychedelic. The stage was dark blue and misty, as if you were watching an abyss of beautiful, electro sounds coming from the three musicians as they played “(God Damn!) What I Am” off their sophomore album The Shadow. It was their most freeing and honest song as they released what felt like something pent up, singing, “I don’t know what I am // God Damn // What I am.”

This was followed by a long, strung-out guitar interlude into their most popular song, “Slow Dance II” during which the crowd erupted in claps and sways being the most sung song of the night. It felt like an accomplishment to finally hear this song and to hear it live was a whole new level of love for it. Naked Giants has been compared to Led Zeppelin because they drag on their songs with solos and instrumentals when they perform for longer, dramatic effects to feel the music more– and it was totally clear why. At this point the bassist was flopping around the stage with his legs jumping from side to side like a Disney character before he shouted out every person that went into the stage production from sound to lights to management, demonstrating the down-to-earth nature of the band and the gratitude for all that made the show possible. It showed the crowd that they cared to be there and that this wasn’t just another stop on their tour.

As the show came to an end, Naked Giants played new, unreleased material with lyrics like “Right after the bell rang the hell spilled out” in a low, mischievous voice allotting for a build up into their second new song “Case of the Bastard,” a song about “Growing up like there ain’t nothing after.” The new songs were received well and were of similar energy to their older songs, seeming reflective of youth and growing up rebellious. Of course, because Naked Giants was so well received, there was a demanded encore that ended up being fifteen minutes long. The crowd’s energy never died, ending in a dramatic, impressive, and powerful drum solo savoring till the very last note of the night as if drummer Henry LaVallee couldn’t bear to end it.

You can find more on Naked Giants on their website, Spotify, and Bandcamp. For more on Sorry Mom look here on Spotify, Twitter, and Bandcamp. For more on Ganser visit their website, Spotify, and Bandcamp.

Naked Giants: Savoring and Celebrating