Show Review: Youth Lagoon (The Casbah, 4/10/2025)

Rarely do you see a songwriter who understands that their greatest strength is their ability to convey their emotions. It’s one thing to do it on record with a team in a studio, where no audience is present to witness you bearing your soul. Trevor Powers is that rare talent; he understands his strengths, and if he had any weaknesses on stage, you wouldn’t know it – he wouldn’t allow them to show. What he lets you witness is his artistry and his ability to command the stage. Youth Lagoon’s latest album, Rarely Do I Dream (full album review here), is filled with songs about growing older, making peace with your past, and allowing that to exist in the present. It is recognizing that what shapes you doesn’t define you, but it can represent you. He does this effortlessly, almost a bit too sly and cool for his own good, yet never missing a beat. The band is here to emphasize this talent and to remind us that good indie rock music comes from a place of understating your own humanity rather than from trying to be something you are not.

This ethos was on full display during the Thursday night show at The Casbah in San Diego, the band’s kickoff to what is considered the “first leg” of an extensive tour. Over the next few months, Youth Lagoon will grace stages across the US, Canada, Europe, and a handful of festivals. Powers and his trio opened the set with “Neighborhood Scene,” the lead track from Rarely Do I Dream, setting the tone for a setlist that featured a mix of songs from the new album alongside favorites from their 2011 debut Year of Hibernation and 2023’s Heaven Is a Junkyard. A few props made their way onstage in addition to some instrument switch-offs, and a few crowd-sourced f*** yeah’s as the set drew to a close.

We walked away from Youth Lagoon’s live show with a clear message: great music not only entertains but resonates deeply. The impression they left stays with you long after the encore fades and the final click of the onstage cassette player signals the end of the night.