Yungblud with UPSAHL @ The Warfield - San Francisco

Photos & words by Dana Jacobs | March 17th 2022

Yungblud’s hotly anticipated Life on Mars tour took one of its last stops in San Francisco earlier this month to a fervently energized sold-out crowd. Hours before Yungblud, the stage name of Dominic Harrsion, took the stage, hundreds of fans wrapped around the venue. By the time the lights dimmed awaiting Harrison, the crowd was visibly restless with anticipation. The roar that filled the venue as Harrison’s silhouette emerged at the microphone was a testament to his enduring popularity.

Yungblud’s music heavily incorporates themes of mental health, isolation, and struggling to fit in. Harrison leans into these themes throughout his live shows, and San Francisco was no expectation. In between high-octane bursts of energy jumping around the stage, Harrison spoke with the audience about the importance of finding community together and reaffirming safety of his shows for all fans. Harrison unfurled pride flags multiple times as they were thrown onstage by fans, to the audience’s uproarious applause. 

Yungblud’s set was relatively short at only 14 songs including an encore, but his seemingly boundless energy made for a continuously engaging night. Through high energy songs like “parents” and “The Funeral,” Harrison quite literally jumped and ran up and down the stage while maintaining impressive vocal control. Saving one of his most popular and meaningful tracks, “Machine Gun,”  until the final encore song, Harrison ensured that an already raucous night ended on both a spirited and significant message

Opening for Yungblud was rising alt-pop singer UPSAHL, whose effortlessly cool set electrified the crowd. Since the release of her debut album Lady Jesus in 2021, the young Arizona native has garnered massive success with singles like “Drugs” and “People I Don’t Like” stacking up tens of millions of streams. The angsty punch of UPSAHL’s alt-pop songs fit perfectly with the Doc Martens and fishnets aesthetic of the crowd, who responded in kind as they sang along. UPSAHL commanded the stage with unbothered swagger as she moved deftly between playing bass, guitar, and working the stage with just her microphone. Despite a relatively short opening set, the young artist left the crowd energized and eagerly awaiting UPSAHL’s next move.