I can actually tell you the exact moment I got into singer-songwriter Alex G. I'd heard his name before... some general chatter around the indie world for years about this guy creating these terrific home-brewed, genre-absent tunes and posting them to Bandcamp. At that time, he was releasing stuff as (Sandy) Alex G, and it was in summer 2019 that a tune of his popped into my suggested content on some platform — YouTube or Bandcamp or who knows what.
But the moment I heard the song "Gretel" off the album House of Sugar, I was absolutely hooked. As I stated at the time in my year-end "best-of" list, "I guess I'm late to the (Sandy) Alex G trip; House of Sugar is the seventh album from this Philly-based singer-songwriter. But holy shit, it's great. "Gretel" is up there in my favorite songs of the entire year."
Since then — and his having dropped the "Sandy" moniker for subsequent albums — I've enjoyed everything this guy has done, from the soundtrack work he did to his two most recent albums, 2022's God Save the Animals (another entry on that year's "best-of" list) and this year's excellent Headlights, released in July.
Almost Didn't Make It
I nearly talked myself out of going to the show, and that would have been a huge regret. I wasn't feeling terrific during the days leading to September 27 — just a ton of work stress and life stress being the culprit, I suppose — and then that very morning, it turned out we'd also committed to doing a street protest. That's a lot of energy use for one day, at least for me.
So I wasn't feeling it, and a couple of times nearly told Kat that it might be better if we skipped the show, despite having great seats and really wanting to be there. But I did not; I know myself well enough that once I actually get going on something, I get past my woes and focus on the adventure at hand. Also, while Kat would have understood, I also know for a fact she'd have been super disappointed. She'd purchased the tickets months earlier, and both of Alex's latest albums are probably among her favorite all-time. I wasn't going to let a bout of nerves stop us, though I was pretty miserable until we hit the road.
Drive to the Greek
But by the time we were cruising up the 110 North, I was perking up. One cool thing: I knew Kat had never been to the Greek before, and it had been a good number of years since I did either. But it's a seriously cool and iconic Los Angeles music venue; I was glad she'd have the opportunity to check it out.
There's no such thing as a zero-traffic moment driving through downtown LA, but all things considered, we got to the Greek very quickly — even accounting for the standard evening gridlock on Los Feliz Boulevard. Since we'd pre-paid for parking, we pulled right into Lot G just above the venue, and strolled on in. I really like the Griffith Park area; if it wasn't such a pain in the ass to get up there form the South Bay, I'd probably spend more time there in general.
A quick side note: after we pulled up and parked, I saw a large shape swoop down and land on a small structure to our right. It was a massive Great Horned Owl, which I — for reasons unknown — intuited as a good luck sign for the rest of the evening. I wasn't wrong.
Alex G Fans
I have to say, the modern concert experience is just so fucking convenient. Kat had our ticket and parking info on her phone, and with zero lines or waiting, we were able to park the Jeep and then enter the Greek with nothing more than a scan. That is such an improvement to the old way.
The crowd was super diverse. I saw young teenagers at the all-ages event, but I saw plenty of people in there 40s and 50s, so Kat and I didn't feel like the weird old hipsters that we might have been at a different indie music concert. The people there to see Alex G (as well as his support act Kevin Abstract) also had the typical Los Angeles spectrum of races and genders and sexual orientations and so on. I'm always my most comfortable in that kind of environment. Regardless of differences, everyone there seemed super chill and very appreciative of the music performances.
And something I've observed in the past five years: Alex G fans are fucking serious fans. It reminds me a bit of other artists who have cultivated an extraordinarily loyal and emotionally-attached batch of people. There were plenty of them there last night. It was definitely an enthusiastic and appreciative audience.
The Show
It was superb. Alex's set list leaned heavily into his most recent album, which was perfect for me. The set also included some great tunes from the previous few albums, along with some of Alex's older stuff from his early output. I will mention that the sound quality at the Greek was completely outstanding... a hats-off to the FOH engineer, whoever they may be. The stage lighting was superb and dynamic, and yet didn't distract from the show itself.
There was a point, after the first couple of tunes, that Alex's band ran into some tech issues. While they got those straightened out, Alex did two solo songs that were really amazing, and kept the crowd spellbound. Speaking of which, Alex — while sitting down at the keyboards — told the crowd a fascinating story.
"I was born here in Los Angeles. And after high school, I decided to go to clown school. And they said I wasn't funny enough to be a clown. I know. It broke my parents' heart. And that's when I started taking piano lessons. And, uh, I practiced hard and I studied hard and I put the time in. And I got a full scholarship to Juilliard, the music school."
Which is pretty cool. And complete bullshit. Literally none of that is true. And Alex is that kind of guy. He's just a weird and interesting and probably doesn't give a shit whether you like him or believe him or not. Sometimes being an unreliable narrator is also an important role.
So all in all, I am super happy that I pushed my negative vibe to the side and went to the show. Alex is an amazing and unique talent, and I am super happy I got to experience him doing his stuff live and in person. 100% worthwhile.
Alex G set list...
- Louisiana
- Gretel
- Sarah (Technical difficulties (solo))
- Whale (Technical difficulties (solo))
- Harvey (Problems fixed but promised a fan)
- June Guitar
- Runner
- Real Thing
- Beam Me Up
- Afterlife
- Oranges
- Bug
- Kicker
- Brick
- Horse
- Blessing
- Immunity
- Logan Hotel
- Is It Still You in There?
- Bounce Boy
- Spinning
- Forever
- Headlights
Encore:
- Far and Wide
- Southern Sky
- Black Hair
- Change
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