Yungblud, England's newest rock star, acts the part in Seattle show
Concert review
Earlier this year, Yungblud stood beaming on the Grammys stage. The new "crown prince of rock" - as one of England's preeminent rock mags has dubbed him - was accompanied by heavy metal matriarch Sharon Osborne, wife of the late Ozzy Osbourne, and the all-star band that backed him during last summer's massive Black Sabbath farewell tribute concert as Yungblud received his first Grammy Award when his live cover of "Changes" won best rock performance.
"Rock music's (expletive) coming back," he proclaimed. "Watch out pop music, we're going to (expletive) get ya."
At least overseas, where the genre holds more space in popular music, the real-life Dominic Harrison is being positioned as the new face of mainstream rock, with that Sabbath-saluting performance becoming a watershed moment that put latecomers (on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean) on notice. Two months after accepting that Grammy, Yungblud headlined London's famed O2 Arena before crossing the pond for his biggest U.S. tour to date, which graced a sold-out WAMU Theater on Friday.
With his jet-black hair slicked back, perpetually pursed lips and a voice that could scrape the moon, Yungblud certainly looked (and often sounded) the part of an archetypal "rock star" when he hit the WAMU stage, checking every box if one could be built from scratch.
Opening with the nine-minute epic "Hello Heaven, Hello" - both a bruiser and a ballad - the singer threw some extra heat on his voice when the thick ‘70s rock riffs roared in, upshifting into the blow-your-hair-back portion of the song. Yungblud's boundless, bouncing-off-the-walls energy was unrelenting through his 90-minute set, peacocking like a mall-goth Mick Jagger on the catchy, modern rocker "Lovesick Lullaby" before slithering into the throwbacky "My Only Angel" - the title track of last year's collaborative EP with Aerosmith.
His hips shaking as the shirtless rocker leaned into the mic stand, Yungblud's amped-up rasp dissipated in favor of a cleaner, even more powerful tone that rocket-launched the song into the classic-rock cosmos as a row of fire cannons erupted behind him.
Yungblud's willingness and ability to subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) deploy his sexuality and flirtatiousness as a performer is oddly refreshing for a male rocker amid a particularly sexless period for the genre. Bordering on camp at times, it stands in stark contrast with the grizzlier, hypermasculine hard rock world he's cozied up to.
"Does anybody want to kidnap me and take me home with them?" Yungblud cheekily asked the crowd after "My Only Angel," his hands behind his back as the camera zoomed in on his swiveling posterior.
Despite the rock royalty co-signs and arena trajectory, not everyone has embraced the polarizing 28-year-old star in the making as rock's next big thing. And for all his talent and charisma, there's something about the stylized total package that feels manufactured.
Yungblud's lean into more straight-ahead rock sounds is a relatively recent development, solidified on last year's "Idols" - his third straight chart topper in the UK, drawing from ‘70s riffs, soaring arena rock and Britpop. It's a marked departure from his genre-bending beginnings in 2018, when the former teen Disney actor emerged with a high-polished blend of alternative pop, hip-hop and pop-punk.
Sticking mostly to his newer material, Yungblud rarely showed those amalgamative roots, save for the swinging, Gorillaz-esque "Lowlife," with its squirming electronic bass and hip-hop influence. It was a bit of an outlier, especially preceding his now-signature Sabbath cover "Changes" - the hair-raising highlight and centerpiece of Yungblud's set.
In the music industry, the line between creative evolution and career opportunism is often blurry. But it's not like Yungblud got to this point without paying his dues. Before his sterling voice slipped into "Changes" like a perfectly fitting leather jacket, he recalled an early gig he played at the Crocodile.
"Not even the real venue, the (expletive) cafe in front," he reminisced in front of the big room packed with new fans seeing him for the first time.
By the end of his set, Yungblud's abundance of rafter-trained power ballads and camera-conscious histrionics started to lose some of their effect. It might have been for the best that he dropped his customary encore closer "Suburban Requiem" instead of following the emotional outpouring of "Zombie" with yet another tug at big-tent heartstrings.
In all likelihood, Yungblud will get a crack at stirring up an even bigger crowd the next time around.
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