Play ‘til the night isn’t young

Vivian Buenrostro

The Hollywood Palladium hosts indie rock band, Young the Giant on Friday, Feb. 7. A total of ten Downey High School students attended the show.

Mia Dixon-Slaughter, Co-Editor-in-Cheif
February 21, 2014

Young the Giant continued its Mind Over Matter tour at the Hollywood Palladium on Fri., Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. There was a crowd of almost 4,000 fans in the audience including a total of 10 students from Downey High.

Students left as early as 5:30 p.m. to stand in line outside The Palladium to get a good seat since the tickets were general admission. While in line, people played games on their phones, conversed, and listened to music as they waited for the venue to open.

Senior Christopher Antonio did not even leave school until he left for the concert.

“My friend and I stayed after school until 5:30 and then we drove to Hollywood,” Antonio said. “I even saw some of my friends from school that we stopped and talked to.”

As the crowd packed into the venue, some stayed standing for two hours as the starting of the concert was delayed. The concert began at 10 p.m. with an indie pop band from Santa Monica called Cayucas playing some of their most popular songs including “High School Lover” and “East Coast Girl”, adding their newest single “Hella” as their closing song. The crowd bobbed their heads to the music; lead singer Zach Yudin pointed the microphone towards the audience so they could participate.

Senior Cristina Lee-Castro enjoyed the up and coming band.

“They were really good,” Lee-Castro said, “I know their music so I was really happy I got to see them live; they sound amazing live.”

The opening act left the stage with the audience applauding and the crew stayed to set up for Young the Giant. That is when the audience began to get more rowdy, chanting and screaming for the main act.

Lead singer Sameer Gadhia, guitarist Jacob Tilley, second guitarist Eric Cannata, bassist Payam Doostzadeh, and drummer François Camtois boarded the Palladium stage lined with flashing lights. The crowd grew quiet as the band set up until the first beat of the first song—“Anagram”—and then began jumping, cheering and singing along with Gadhia.

Junior Joey Flores was in the pit enjoying the concert when he experienced a fan getting too excited.

“We were all jumping to the music and the girl behind us passed out,” Flores said. “She was really wild the entire time and all of a sudden she was on the floor. Even when she was blacking out on and off she wouldn’t leave because she wanted to see the band so bad.”

The band went back and forth between songs from their old and new albums including “Day Dreamer”, “Teachers” and “Crystallized” from the new album Mind Over Matter, and “Cough Syrup”, “Apartment”, and “I Got” from their old album Young the Giant. The crowd raved for the new songs and even more for the old favorites.

Gadhia entertained the crowd with his signature dances of swaying his hips and flipping his hair to the beat of the songs during guitar and drum solos. He also added the extra beats of the songs with the playing of his keyboard, maracas and tambourine.

“His dancing is my favorite part of his performances,” Lee-Castro said. “He’s so attractive on stage.”

As the concert came to a close with the song “Paralysis” the audience raged on even after the band exited the stage. The thousands of fans chanted “One more song!” and “Encore!” until the band returned to the stage for their encore. The band played “Cameras”, “Mind Over Matter” and finally “My Body” as their official closing song.

The crowd became the craziest during “My Body.” With Gadhia jumping to the edge of the stage, the crowd rushed towards the stage for a touch of the lead singer’s hand. The concert ended once again with the band quickly exiting the stage and this time, the crowd was content.

Senior Marjan Abubo’s favorite part of the concert was the encore.

“They played the songs I had been anticipating all night,” Abubo said. “Just when I thought they had left the building and I was tired from standing for hours, they played those songs and the pain in my feet went away and I was cheering again.”

This was only the third concert of Young the Giant’s Mind Over Matter tour. They will be traveling across the country, to the east coast and then up to Canada. Their next concert will be on Feb. 12 in Phoenix, Arizona.

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About the Contributors

Mia Dixon-Slaughter, Co-Editor-in-Cheif

Mia Dixon-Slaughter, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Downey Legend, stepped into the world of journalism 3 years ago as a sophomore. After a great deal of persuasion from her two best friends, who were on staff at the time, Dixon-Slaughter submitted her application at the semester and was welcomed shortly after. “I love writing and always have,” Slaughter said, “but I’ve always stuck strictly to literature so branching out into a different style and type of writing has helped me develop as a writer.” Although writing essays and covering stories can be polar opposites, the writer adjusted without much trouble. During her time at The Downey Legend, she has covered numerous stories, fiddled with the camera, and established the newspaper’s credibility on social media. She is competent enough to know what it takes to have efficient deadlines; all Slaughter has to do now is to guide her staff in that direction.

If the writer is not covering stories happening around school, she is still somehow always somewhere on campus. Juggling AP classes, an ASB position, and her role in newspaper, Slaughter often finds herself with a hectic schedule. This being said, when genuine free time presents itself, she takes full advantage of it. “I love getting lost or ending up in places spontaneously because it feels so great to not have an agenda sometimes,” Dixon-Slaughter said. While the senior is busy getting ready for college and balancing out the rest of her responsibilities, she hopes to provide the staff with an exemplary example of the amount of greatness that can rise from commitment.

Vivian Buenrostro, Co-Editor-in-Cheif

Senior Vivian Buenrostro is not only a writer for The Downey Legend online newspaper, but has also taken on the responsibility of Co-Editor-In-Chief. Having been a part of the newspaper staff since her sophomore year, she has experience with the different positions and has even held the positions of Arts and Entertainment Section Editor and Song of the Week Editor. “Newspaper has been one awesome ride these past three years,” Buenrostro said. “I’ve learned skills that are applicable to everything and anything.” Although Co-Editor-In-Chief is a tough and tedious job, Buenrostro is ready to take on the challenge. Throughout this year on staff she hopes to build a close bond with all of the staff members and have productive deadlines.

When she is not running the staff or writing stories, Buenrostro enjoys jogs around her neighborhood, making healthy shakes and other concoctions, or swimming in the waves at Huntington Beach. “Time doesn’t really exist when I’m in the ocean,” Buenrostro said. Buenrostro also loves live music; she has been to various concerts including Young the Giant, Arctic Monkeys, and Walk the Moon. Buenrostro plans to graduate and attend an out of state school far from California. “As much as I love Downey High,” Buenrostro said, “I can’t wait to go to college in a new environment.” While away at college she hopes to major in biology and medicine to start her path towards her career goal of being a doctor. Buenrostro aims to make her final year at Downey High School rewarding in both her academics and her position on The Downey Legend staff.