Joy Oladokun made their way to Boston this past Saturday night to a sold out crowd at Royale. Seven shows in and more than half of the dates being completely sold out, Oladokun is having a killer start to 2025.
Usually this is where I would talk about the opener’s set, but plot twist! Oladokun actually opened for herself by playing a few songs solo acoustic including “The Hard Way,” “Purple Haze,” and a mash-up of their song “Questions, Chaos, and Faith” into “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. The show was already off to a great start and we still had an entire full set from them to see.
This tour is promoting their new album OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM, so naturally Oladokun started their headlining set with track two from the record “Am I?,” a 90s inspired track that discusses the impact of violence and addiction in someone’s life. Halfway through the show they busted into “Taking Things For Granted,” which is my favorite song of theirs from the album Proof of Life and a fan favorite song in general as the crowd erupted in cheers from the first note they played.
Towards the end of the show before playing their song “I’d Miss the Birds,” a song Oladokun wrote about wanting to leave Nashville, they reveal to the crowd how Nashville (the country music industry) has been ignoring her ever since they moved to town and has even had some industry folks tell them that they don’t sell enough tickets. “I’m black and gay in America. The room’s full. What else do you want?”, they said as the crowd applauded for what felt like ten minutes as they started tearing up on stage. “I had a cannoli. I might just fucking move here”, they stated with a chuckle as they wiped away tears.
Oladokun ended their show with a three song encore with some of their biggest hits starting with Drugs, a sing-along track from their new record that had the audience singing every single word and clapping along. “We’re All Gonna Die” followed, a song they released with Noah Kahan back in 2023. To end off the magical night, Joy closed the show with just them and an acoustic guitar. You could hear a pin drop when they played “Flowers”. It was one of the most precious moments I’ve ever gotten to witness during a live show.
If you’re looking for a new artist to listen to, I’d highly recommend listening to Oladokun’s music and then catching one of their shows. Their shows bring people together and I can honestly say it was one of the safest crowds I’ve been a part of in a really long time.
Check out the remainder of the Blackbird Tour dates in a city near you.
