The queue for Noah Kahan’s first of two sold-out London shows at the famous O2 Kentish Town struck around two blocks, 15 walking minutes from the venue. The audience, predominantly in their early 20s, appeared surprisingly youthful for an American country-folk artist, arriving in groups of friends or alongside their significant others.
The support act, the acoustic threesome Tiny Habits, and their soft harmonies set the mood for the night, while Kahan opened his show with his hymn-like song ‘Northern Attitude’ which he just recently re-released with Irish artist Hozier as a feature. The crowd was roaring the lyrics word for word, an ongoing theme throughout the whole concert.
“All songs are about my home in New England, it’s weird that people are singing to it across the pond,”, he admitted with a smile a couple songs in. Kahan’s songwriting perfectly conveys the feeling of having outgrown your hometown and your childhood friends and trying to make peace with the love-and-hate relationship you feel – especially with songs like ‘You’re Gonna Go Far’ and ‘The View Between Villages’.
“You know when someone is doing really good and you are happy for them and how far they’ve come? Yeah, this song is about the opposite. When someone is having a good day, we need to bring them back down. It is our duty as citizens,”, Kahan laughed before introducing ‘New Perspective’, whose banjo melody would still be ringing in everyone’s ears hours after the show. It also needs to be addressed how incredibly talented all the musicians in his band were (yes, they were all white men, but they looked like lumberjacks, so it matched the image; “I thought London really needs another goofy white guy with a guitar”, Kahan himself joked.)
Kahan also reflected on how far he has come until today, as he told the audience about the first time he played a show in London back in 2018 at the Social, in front of only 77 people.
The most wholesome moment of the night came in the form of a heartwarming mother-daughter interaction that occurred when Kahan played ‘Call Your Mum’ and a fan in the audience actually called her mum. Within seconds, people around her were noticing what was going on, pointing at the phone screen held up in the air, with a middle-aged woman shedding tears on FaceTime. Yet another sign that regardless of where or who your home might be, Noah Kahan and his music have the ability to take you right back there and into their arms.
Written by Vicky Madzak // photography by Patrick McCormack
GEM Magazine 