Indie
Live Review: Inside Del Water Gap’s immersive night in London
An energetic London set that combined indie rock with late-night confessionals.
It often seems that music, no matter how well produced or lyrically relatable, doesn’t click until it’s heard live. This is exactly what went down at Del Water Gap’s London show of his Chasing the Chimera world tour at London's Roundhouse.
I had listened to DWG’s music before attending the St. Patrick’s Day show, but not enough to sing along with every song – which turned out to be a good thing. Hearing the music accompanied by a live band, an energetic audience, and S. Holden Jaffe’s (aka Del Water Gap) stage presence allowed me to resonate with the music so much deeper than I had previously.
The show opened with Small Town Joan of Arc, an open expression of admiration for a woman who is far from perfect to the world, but whom the singer has deeply fallen in love with: “It's a pain, it's a rush when you’re hopelessly in love with a small town Joan of Arc.”
The song, filled with earnest feelings, set the tone for the night: a set list full of open expressions of emotion, even when those emotions are messy and complicated. Holden moved onto Sorry I Am and Better Than I Know Myself, both self-reflective songs that seemed to resonate with the audience.
Holden took time throughout the show to thank fans for showing up and even shared a story about how he was supposed to open for a Girl In Red show in London a few years ago, but it was cancelled, and he assumed he'd never get the chance to play in London again.
He expressed his love and appreciation for the city multiple times, even sharing how “I met someone in this city who inspired a lot of the songs on this album.”
Fan-favourite Dollhouse was a show standout to me based on crowd engagement, and a chorus that felt so simple yet devastatingly human: “As if you needed a reason to call me, a reason to call me at all.”
DWG moved through songs from the recent album like New Personality and Ghost in the Uniform before reaching another crowd favorite: an older song entitled NFU. This song was special because of Holden’s interactive moment with the audience (the first of several) in which he picked someone from the crowd to control the lights during the song. She seemed to be a long-time fan whom Holden instantly recognised.
A little over halfway through the show, Holden delivered a cover of one of his personal favourite songs, Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls. It’s a song that's impossible not to sing along to and it was heartwarming to look around and see groups of friends, family, and couples hugging each other while taking in the moment.
Songs such as Coping on Unemployment and All We Ever Do Is Talk feel relatable specifically to millennials and Gen Z, Del Water Gap’s target audience.
Comments from the singer throughout the show such as, “We’re swearing off situationships this year,” made it clear that Holden knew who his audience was.
Another crowd interaction happened during the song Damn, although this one was slightly more peculiar.
While performing, Holden brought out a sewing machine on stage, embroidered a piece of merch to make it city-specific and then gave it to a fan at random. It was definitely interesting, but props to him for being able to multitask!
For the final chorus of Perfume, Holden himself came into the pit of the audience to sing and dance with fans, which they have started calling “Perfume Pit.”
Opting for no encore, the group dived right into the final song, Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat, a fun song that is still filled with realisation and raw emotion.
Words: Jenna Flannes
Rating: 8.5/10
