British indie pop artist Cavetown made their first appearance at the Paper Tiger this past Wednesday, Nov. 9. Cavetown, born Robbie Daniel Skinner, is a popular singer, songwriter, record producer and YouTuber. Skinner first rose to fame in the mid-2010s with the Cavetown YouTube channel. With their heartwarming sound and touching songwriting, it is easy to see how the 24-year-old has amassed over 6.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
The show began with a 40-minute performance by Texas native Lomelda, born Hannah Read. Throughout her set, she remained seated with her guitar, playing songs about love and global warming. The slower theme of her music made it difficult to become fully invested; nonetheless, the crowd was supportive and encouraging throughout the performance. While it was not anything remarkable, it was nice to experience the raw emotions of the artist.
Skinner and his band kicked off their hour-and-a-half-long set with “worm food,” from their most recent 2022 album of the same name. Skinner and the band’s synergy was electric, and with each song played, the crowd became more and more enchanted. Notable songs included “juno,” a song about Skinner’s cat back home; “1994,” an attempt to make peace with one’s younger self; “lemon boy,” a song about anxiety and illness; and memorably, “fall in love with a girl,” a song about struggling with one’s sexuality.
The set was diverse in tone, with Skinner even sending away his band for one song, picking up the ukulele, and performing “Hug All Ur Friends” solo on the stage. This song seems to connect differently with everyone, but the presentation of the piece and the vulnerability shown was unbeatable.
Before closing the set, Skinner shared that the following song no longer described them — and how they are glad they are no longer struggling. Despite this, they reiterated the importance of the song and the hope that it will help others dealing with similar situations. As they played the first chords of the song, the crowd went wild, beginning to belt out the start to “Home.” This song discusses feelings of gender dysphoria, anxiety and asexuality. Their live rendition was equally as, if not more, impressive than the studio version.
After saying a short-lived goodbye, Cavetown returned for two encore songs. Performing the fan favorites “Boys Will Be Bugs” and finally “Devil Town.” It was obvious that these songs were crowd favorites as everyone loudly sang along. Because of the popularity of these songs on TikTok, the crowd was quite young, which contributes to the overall lower rating.
Concertgoer Audrey Uribe has been a Cavetown fan for over six years and has attended multiple concerts. She shared, “I recently saw Cavetown on tour for their ‘Bittersweet Daze’ festival in Denver, Colorado, partnering with Ricky Montgomery, mxmtoon and Grant Perez. I personally loved both concerts, but I will say I preferred the ‘Bittersweet Daze’ festival because they played more [of a] variety of their songs on different albums.”
Overall the concert was an enjoyable experience. Skinner and the band have excellent chemistry, and their stage presence is definitely impressive. More information about Cavetown’s tour is available on their website.
