Tigers Jaw @ Gothic Theater
tigers jaw x pool kids x bleary eyed
06.16.26
bleary eyed
There are some kick-offs to an evening that feel like nostalgia you didn't know you had. I knew of Bleary Eyed before the show, and the DC/Philly four-piece of Nathaniel Salfi (Frontman, guitar, and vocals), Margot Whipps (Bass and vocals), Pax Martyn (Guitar), and Charlie Libby Watt (Drums) started the night with their song ‘Susan’.
Feeling reminiscent of Benjamin Booker’s ‘BLACK OPPS’ or M83’s ‘Close your Eyelids and Die with the Sun’ in terms of the atmosphere a song creates upon listening to ‘Susan’, it felt like I was transported into the title screen of some PlayStation 2 title I’m witnessing at a friend's house for the first time during a sleepover in elementary school.
Their early 2000s technogaze/electrogaze blend of shoegaze and fuzz pop ramped up to every platform of the Gothic with massive waves of distortion carrying tiny pop melodies in the wake. I would struggle to pick a better song out of their discography to begin the night with, tossing the ball to Pool Kids to carry us into the rest of the evening.
Pool Kids
Pool Kids, the four-piece band based out of Tennessee comprised of Christine Goodwyne (lead vocals, auxiliary), Andy Anaya (guitar), Nicolette Alvarez (bass), and Caden Clinton (drums), were my personal standouts for the evening I had been itching to see live. They have repeatedly toured with some of my favorite bands, Chase Petra, Origami Angel, La Dispute (the list could go on forever), and some upcoming fall dates with Death Cab with Cutie.
Their music somehow exists at the intersection of technical precision and a masterclass emotional delivery. Intricate mathrocky guitar riffs sprinkled around shifting rhythms without ever feeling overly calculated, leaving plenty of room for the raw emotion at the center of every song to breathe, while maintaining an electrifying grip on the crowd, just begging them to mosh and crowd surf.
Christine Goodwyne's vocal performance was especially captivating. Gentle one moment before energetic the next, all while effortlessly surfing over the crowd in the next moment, she carried every dynamic shift with remarkable ease. As the room packed out before Tigers Jaw's set, Pool Kids accomplished something every direct support band hopes to achieve. They didn't simply warm up the audience; they gave people a reason to come back and listen again once they got home.
Tigers Jaw
Certain bands don't simply soundtrack different chapters of your life; they become inseparable from them, serving as a direct line to deep-seated memories. Certain Tigers Jaw songs have always been able to take me back - I can vividly remember the Summer night I heard their Title Fight cover of ‘Safe in Your Skin/Where Am I?’, all the times I’ve had ‘Plane VS Tank VS Submarine’ (really anything off of their self-titled 2010 album). Their music has this remarkable ability to make nostalgia feel returnable. Every record feels like flipping through an old photo album that somehow gains new pages every time you come back to it. Whether it's the raw emotion of their self-titled record, the infectious melodies of Charmer, the quiet introspection found throughout I Won't Care How You Remember Me, or the new, incredible, and immersive sound Lost on You brings.
So naturally, seeing them return to Denver, and being able to catch them live this time alongside Pool Kids and Bleary Eyed at the Gothic. It felt less like attending another concert and more like catching up with an old friend from my youth.
The Gothic has always been one of my favorite venues in Colorado. I’ve had a lot of core-memory concerts there, like getting to see and shoot Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Heart Attack Man, and Winona Fighter, just to name a few. There's something about its atmosphere that makes every performance feel just a little more intimate. I was especially excited to come back to this theatre for this show.
Tigers Jaw wasted no time settling into that familiar comfort, opening the evening with "It's Okay" before rolling seamlessly into "Primary Colors" and "Head Is Like a Sinking Stone." Almost immediately, the distinction between performer and audience disappeared. Everywhere I looked, people were singing every word and every beat; the crowd itself had morphed into a never-ending sea of crowd surfers swimming to their stage shore. You'll already always find yourself scanning a room while shooting a show, looking for crowd shots that can document the line between performer and crowd and reactions to moments on stage. I found myself constantly scanning the crowd, trying to line up a shot capturing crowd surfers and the artists, fans making stage and diving back into the crowded sea. During the middle of the set, I even joined in on the crowd surfing action, dropping my lens bag off at merch, making a few friends in the front who could lift me up to crowd surf with a camera.
