THE DARE @ SONIA 9/10

Photography by Gwyneth Moe

Review by Kendal Evans

Tuesday night, donning his iconic suit, tie, and sunglasses, Harrison Patrick Smith, aka The Dare, brought Sonia in Cambridge to life. The performance followed The Dare’s seemingly overnight virality. My anticipation for this show met every expectation. At his core, The Dare was made to perform. His own words say it better than I ever could: “What’s a rocker to The Dare?”

Following his production of the song “Guess” from the deluxe album “Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not” by Charli XCX, The Dare skyrocketed in popularity along with the moniker “Brat summer.” His song “Girls” gained traction on TikTok, which in turn brought attention to his premiere album “What’s Wrong With New York?” The album was released on September 6th. This show in Cambridge was part of his United States tour, “The Dare Does the US.” 

The show began with a DJ set from Avalon. She created a fluid mix of well-known club hits, such as “OKAY” by JT and “Go Hard (La. La. La.)” by Kreaysahwn, and bangers lesser known on this side of the Atlantic, such as “Боі Стули Пельку (Remix)” by Badwor7h. As a shoutout to her successor’s collaboration with Charli XCX, she also included a remix of Vroom Vroom and My Humps by DJ G2G. As soon as Charli XCX’s voice came through the loudspeakers, the crowd went wild. The room was washed in red light and buzzing as the crowd sang along to every word, bouncing up and down to the beat that oozed fun. 

Avalon’s energy was effortlessly chic as she danced along with the crowd in her white dress, black scarf, and black sunglasses, akin to The Dare’s iconic look. She closed out her DJ set with “Perfect (Exceeder)” by Mason and Princess Superstar – a perfect end in my book. The crowd was electric; they shouted along, “One, Two, Three, Four, let me hear you scream if you want some more,” with the anticipation in the air for The Dare’s upcoming performance being palpable. 

Avalon will continue to support The Dare throughout the first half of his United States tour. 

At 8:30 p.m., all of the strobe lights that made up the stage set began flashing, and rhythmic humming encapsulated the room. The lights and beat grew intensely as The Dare approached the microphone. With the drop of the beat, the first song of the set, “Open Up,” began. The high-energy opener set the tone for the rest of the show. The Dare’s performance created an incredible emotional contagion that somehow broke the intense energy barrier in the room.

The fun continued as The Dare moved through hit after hit. Following “Open Up,” The Dare performed “Good Time,” “Sex,” “Perfume,” “I Destroyed Disco,” and “You’re Invited,” which made for a near-perfect run. Someone in the crowd had been blowing bubbles, which only intensified the vibrant ambiance in the venue. In this run, “Perfume” stood out especially. During the outro, The Dare materialized on center stage, holding a massive cymbal, which he paraded around and hit repeatedly as he shouted the final adlibs in the song. 

After this run of songs, the set took a short but needed break from the intense energy. During this time, The Dare delivered an excellent cover of “I Can’t Escape Myself” by The Sound. 

The energy picked right back up as the set transitioned into a short section of unreleased songs titled “Lights, Camera, Action” and “Freaky // Right.” These unreleased tracks were very impressive and would make great candidates for a potential deluxe version of “What’s Wrong With New York?” 

After the unreleased section, The Dare took a break from the vocals in order to showcase his DJing ability. The instrumental track “Bloodwork” sent pulses of energy through the room as the lights washed red. Then, he unexpectedly mixed it with snippets of “Guess” by Charli XCX. The audience went wild as samples of Charli’s iconic line, “Send it to The Dare, yeah, I think he’s with it,” echoed.

Then, the bittersweet final section of the show began. The main set closed out with “Elevation” and “You Can Never Go Home,” after which he took some time to interact with the audience before the encore. After someone in the audience shouted, “Boston is miserable,” The Dare took a moment to share his infatuation with the city. He said that sometimes he wished he lived here, as there are so many good bands from here. Then, an audience member suggested Duster as one of these good bands, and he said, “Duster, what the f–ck? Duster sucks!” 

The ensuing encore consisted of “Movement,” “All Night” (during which the iconic cymbal made its return), and the most anticipated track of the night, “Girls.” The energy of “Girls” in a venue as small as Sonia is something that, in my opinion, is simply irreplicable. I truly wish I could live those two minutes over and over again. 

With The Dare on the brink of exponentially exploding in popularity, now is the time to go catch a concert. While there are no more East Coast dates on the tour until his New Year’s Eve show in New York, shows can be caught in the Midwest and West Coast through September.