REVIEW: Hippo Campus @ MGM Fenway 2/7
Review by Ashley Duong
Indie rock band Hippo Campus, formed in 2013 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, graced the Boston alternative scene on February 7 when they visited MGM Fenway on their 20-date Flood Tour. The 5,009-capacity venue filled the entire floor and upper-level seats, a testament to their loyal fanbase’s attendance on a violently cold Friday night.
The night started with an opening set from Petey USA, a fellow Midwest musician. His pop-punk songs immediately gripped the crowd, proving that he wasn’t solely an opener but a performer. His energetic stage presence transferred to the crowd, gaining new fans and setting the stage and standard for Hippo Campus.
Soon after, Hippo Campus took the stage, opening with “Madman” from their recent album “Flood.” While the catchy melody and guitar riffs were a pleasant start to the show, I wished they had opened with a more energetic song to match the opener’s high bar. They then granted my wish with “Tooth Fairy,” another song from their recent album. With years of live experience, they knew how to build a song on stage. With flashing lights, crescendoing vocals, and an instrumental break they put their all into, the crowd knew we were in for the night of our lives.
My favorite song of the night had to be “South.” Out of their discography, I felt this song had masterful lyricism, especially for being one of their first releases. The soloists belted the lyrics, “Streetlights talk the same way my mother told me, I walk the same way my father told me,” but the simple, repeating lyrics, “You go down south, south,” stole the spotlight. For one song, the audience and the band were working in tandem, belting lyrics to each other that came straight from their heart. It was an exchange of art, trust, and love that I’ve been lucky to see only during concerts.
There were several moments during this concert where I noticed how incredible Hippo Campus’s lyricism and storytelling are, even after years of listening and accidentally overlooking this. During “Flood,” the lyric, “Do I even believe what I’m talking about?” reverberated across the venue; its vulnerability resonated heavily with me. At the song’s end, Jake Luppen screamed the last chorus: If you weren’t paying attention before, you indeed were now.
I was surprised that Hippo Campus never lost steam during their concert—especially during the middle of the show. The setlist so far had been very high energy, and I’d be lying if I said they weren’t giving their all. So, when Luppen said, “This one’s about Fenway,” I knew we were about to hear “Baseball,” a quintessential indie pop banger that turned MGM Fenway into an indie dance party.
For the rest of the concert, the number one emotion I felt was pure shock. With a genuine lack of better words, I couldn’t believe how good these guys were. I’d prematurely written them off as another indie band, but this concert was enough proof that their musical craftsmanship was awe-inspiring. During “Bang Bang,” I noticed how tight their vocal harmonies were—a gift of live music that slips through the cracks due to musicians multitasking. I loved halting the lights and instruments to add to the song’s crescendo. The shock factor came to a high during “Bubbles,” bringing attention to how unique the Luppen’s vocals are—and how every musician in the group also matched each other regarding vocal abilities. They replicated the synth used in the song’s studio version, adding to the vocalist’s autotuned voice. These two live performance choices are typically ones I’m not a fan of, but I found the autotune and synth to bring another layer to their performance.
Even during their last few songs of the set, the feeling of shock never left: This band just kept getting better. During “Yippie Ki Yay,” a song made for the stage, the boys gave their all into the performance—Luppen interacted with the crowd by taking someone’s Nintendo DS and recording himself performing the song. It was one of the few interactions with the audience during the concert, something I wish the band had done more during their show. With little to no speeches that night, it made it difficult for casual concertgoers to get to know the band themselves.
But for die-hard fans, this did not phase them. I absentmindedly asked my roommate, “Wait, which song is this?” to which a fan to the left of us said, “It’s ‘Boys.’” We started a conversation, where we learned this was her sixth time seeing them live and her second time this week alone. She showed us her Hippo Campus tattoo down the side of her body, showing how dedicated their fans were.
Hippo Campus left the stage briefly, then returned for the encore, beginning with “Warm Glow,” a fan favorite. There’s a beauty in repeating lyrics during concerts: hearing the crowd let their guard down and pour their soul into singing, getting louder and louder with every repeating lyric. During “Warm Glow,” that vulnerability was present in the bridge’s lyrics: “Arm’s length, shoulders wide, Looking for a fight / Peace sign, getting by / People, we’ll be alright.” It’s a bridge that people wait years to hear live. Before ending with “Violet,” a song from their 2015 “South” EP, Luppen said, “Be good to each other!” After the encore, I felt I understood the fan with the tattoo—if I saw Hippo Campus live, I’d do everything I could to see them live again.