Photo Credit: Thane Fernandes<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Review by James Klein<\/p>\n
Friday night, fans packed TD Garden for a show featuring singer-songwriter superstars Daniel Caesar and Faye Webster. This was the most Gen-Z crowd I\u2019ve ever seen at a concert. The unofficial uniform was flannels, oversized jeans, loafers and wired earbuds. Nearly every phone seemed to be scrolling through TikTok or Snapchat.<\/span><\/p>\n This demographic made perfect sense for the show; Caesar and Webster have both gained enormous followings on TikTok. For Caesar, songs like \u201cBest Part,\u201d \u201cGet You\u201d and \u201cJapanese Denim\u201d exploded on the platform, helping him accumulate billions of streams. Webster has also become a TikTok favorite, with songs including \u201cKingston,\u201d \u201cI Know You\u201d and \u201cRight Side of My Neck\u201d earning hundreds of millions of streams. Their online popularity has translated into sold-out arenas across the country. Live, however, both artists proved there was far more to them than viral success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The lights came up on a smoky TD Garden stage as Webster walked out with her band and opened with \u201cBut Not Kiss,\u201d followed by \u201cThinking About You\u201d and \u201cWanna Quit All the Time,\u201d three highlights off her 2024 album \u201cUnderdressed at the Symphony.\u201d The stage glowed in the album cover\u2019s signature royal blue. Her band moved effortlessly between folk, indie rock and jazz.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Webster welcomed the crowd, her speaking voice as soft and airy as her singing. The band played \u201cLego Ring,\u201d featuring impressively tight tempo changes and ending on a drum solo leading into \u201cJonny.\u201d Webster took to the keyboard and was joined by a sultry, resonant saxophone. The crowd sang along until it led into \u201cJonny (Reprise),\u201d where Webster delivered a high-pitched monologue addressed to Jonny that drew some laughs from the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n The band played through \u201cRight Side Of My Neck,\u201d \u201cIn A Good Way,\u201d and an autotuned \u201cFeeling Good Today,\u201d after which she introduced the band, including the \u201cbirthday boy\u201d Charles Garner on drums. The highlight of her set came with the closing song, \u201cKingston.\u201d As soon as it started, the crowd erupted into \u201cThe day that I met you, I started dreaming.\u201d While waving phone lights, the audience joined her in singing \u201cHe said, \u2018baby,\u2019 that’s what he called me, \u2018I love you.\u2019\u201d Her understated stage presence made the audience’s enthusiastic singing even more striking. Afterward, Webster gave the crowd a few endearing waves before leaving the stage.<\/span><\/p>\n Caesar\u2019s set started with a video onscreen, thanking the audience for coming. The fog-filled stage glowed with heavenly light through windowpanes as \u201cRain Down\u201d played and Caesar walked on with crutches (he broke his ankle in early July but has continued touring). He sat and played the tambourine as a gospel choir appeared on stage left, draped in red robes. The choir danced and pointed toward heaven as they layered vocals over the song. This set the tone for the rest of the show before Caesar even began singing. The choir sang \u201cHere I am, here I am,\u201d accompanied by a church organ as Caesar got up on his crutches and started singing \u201cCall On Me\u201d in an airy but impactful falsetto.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Caesar made his way to his guitar on crutches for a performance of \u201cHave A Baby With Me,\u201d which was just as moving. The choir rejoined him on a \u201cLet your blessings rain down on me\u201d chant while an impressive light display beamed from the rafters. On \u201cWho Knows,\u201d Caesar continued on guitar, this time joined by the entire crowd singing. The song developed into a climactic rock section before Caesar hopped over to put his guitar away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n An onstage cameraman carrying a large rig spent most of the set capturing close-ups for the video screen, constantly moving while Caesar remained largely confined to one spot. While the screens moved through stunning close-ups, at times it felt overdone and distracting.<\/span><\/p>\n Caesar sat for a performance of \u201cCYANIDE,\u201d joined by some beautiful piano and the gospel choir\u2019s \u201coohs.\u201d He then transitioned into \u201cAlways,\u201d another emotional highlight of the show. In a nod to Boston, the screen played a montage of clips from the movie \u201cGood Will Hunting.\u201d On-screen visuals complemented the set throughout, from footage of a child dancing during \u201cLoose\u201d to volcanic eruptions during \u201cPlease Do Not Lean.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Next came a church organ-backed cover of \u201cMany Rivers To Cross\u201d by Jimmy Cliff, a natural fit for his warm, expressive voice. After the cover, Caesar took to the scooter for his hit \u201cJapanese Denim.\u201d Caesar circled the stage before settling on the front platform, occasionally holding the microphone out for the audience to sing along. Sitting back down, Caesar played the guitar for another hit, \u201cBest Part,\u201d allowing the crowd to sing the opening verse and taking it from there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Caesar unleashed one of his night’s most forceful vocal performances during the unreleased \u201cIt Should Be You,\u201d pleading \u201cI only want you\u201d into the microphone. Another powerful highlight was \u201cSins Of The Father.\u201d Heavenly light once again flooded the stage as Caesar sang of faith and generational trauma. He closed out the set with \u201cMoon,\u201d where the band showed off some rock-style drumming and electric guitar riffs.<\/span><\/p>\n Daniel Caesar and Faye Webster proved that their appeal extends far beyond the algorithms that introduced many fans to their music. Despite his limited mobility, Caesar delivered a spiritually and emotionally stirring performance that never felt restricted by his injury.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo Credit: Thane Fernandes Review by James Klein Friday night, fans packed TD Garden for a show featuring singer-songwriter superstars Daniel Caesar and Faye Webster. This was the most Gen-Z crowd I\u2019ve ever seen at a concert. The unofficial uniform was flannels, oversized jeans, loafers and wired earbuds. Nearly every phone seemed to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26292,"featured_media":54401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[910,2746,192],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54402,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54400\/revisions\/54402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}