Yungblud Pours His Heart Out

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While enigmatic singer Yungblud may dress and act like a punk, the deafening shrieks he received when stepping out on the Generac Power Stage at Summerfest Thursday night would suggest he’s a full-blown pop star.

Catching an artist on the upswing of their career is always an exciting feeling, and with the release of 2022’s self-titled album, it feels like the Doncaster-born artist is holding onto the last fragments of his best-kept-secret status. More importantly, it looked like Yungblud was visibly having fun on stage Thursday night, something that has become a little bit more rarified for artists in recent years. By the time he let loose with opener “Superdeadfriends,” he was a ball of energy that didn’t seem to be contained for the better part of 75 minutes.

With paint-dripped barrels around the stage and a backing band that rarely took any bit of the spotlight, all eyes were on the singer, who had recently claimed in a hand-written note on Instagram that he needed to scare people again with his music. Perhaps that helped dictate the setlist, which leaned more into his earlier releases than the self-titled record that pushed him into a larger audience. It also helped that it was five years to the day since he had put out his first album, 21st Century Liability. Yungblud would get emotional towards the end of the set when revealing the significance of the date, holding back just a couple of tears when thanking the crowd for everything over the past five years. Much of the night, however, celebrated the songs that helped get him there.

It took some time for the Generac Power Stage crowd to fill in, but once they did, they were in full voice, especially on the hooks of tracks like “Medication” and “Fleabag,” the latter of which saw the singer jump down into the aisles that section off the Summerfest crowd. Yungblud would cover as much ground as possible on Thursday, frequently taking his microphone to the edges of the stage whenever possible, and often up onto the front speakers rather than stay on the stage. He also had a fixation with one of the cameramen up front, grabbing his lens and singing directly into the shot, which showed up on the screens on either side of the stage. He would later take that camera out of the operator’s hands, filming himself while singing, certainly not an easy task.

There was a connection between performer and audience that is hard to manufacture, and both ends were certainly able to feel it. Late in the set, Yungblud would give an impassioned rant about his fans, stating that each and every one of them were what makes up Yungblud, rather than simply being one person on stage. He declared they were building an army together, and from the sound of the crowd during the Machine Gun Kelly-assisted track “I Think I’m Okay,” you would be convinced.

Having a crowd in the palm of your hand, while not easy to do, also affords some liberties to be a bit more creative. Yungblud was certainly able to do that, sitting down at a piano for the first half of the poignant “Sweet Heroine,” before jumping back to the front with an acoustic guitar to play an extended version of the track. He would also briefly disappear for an encore, leading off with the recently released “Lowlife,” which again prompted singalong status from the Power Stage crowd. The night would close on “Loner,” for which he pulled approximately 10 fans out of the crowd to join him onstage, moshing along to the song’s ending. Before departing, he made a point to say that he would sign autographs at the front of the stage area just after the set, once again establishing that connection with his audience.

Throughout the history of rock music, you can point out great performers that appear to have a natural gift for commanding the stage, and Thursday night was a display that made you think Yungblud could be in that conversation. Always sure of himself, there was no questioning the effort that went into his set, and going above and beyond to give the fans what they want seems to be at his core. Hopefully that stays consistent for the next five years of Yungblud’s career and beyond.