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Joey Valence & Brae: The Monster Energy Outbreak Tour
HYPERYOUTH was born from Joey Valence and Brae’s experience going out to clubs and looking around in astonishment that nobody else shared the same excitement they did. Monday night at The Observatory North Park, nobody had that problem. The Pennsylvania rap duo — two MCs, one DJ in producer Ewook — arrived on the final night of the domestic leg of the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour and turned the venue on University Avenue into something closer to a house party at the end of the world: loud, physical, and completely unwilling to stop. JVB is what experiencing the Beastie Boys in their prime must have felt like — loud, chaotic, raw, and Mach speed 24/7. San Diego, to its credit, showed up ready.
HYPERYOUTH Hits Home
The night opened with the crowd chanting “J-V-B” before the duo had even stepped onstage — a ritual that has become a fixture of this tour, and a reliable indicator of the temperature of any given room. Monday’s room was scorching. They launched straight into the title track “HYPERYOUTH,” a song that goes through a couple of different moods and mindsets from the jump, with chopped-up vocals and high-impact crashes setting the tone, before devolving into a hip-house outro. “GIVE IT TO ME” followed without pause — a track with an almost Beastie Boys Check Your Head energy, given the Spock references in the lyrics and the wailing guitar samples playing throughout. The crowd in the pit was already in free fall. “BUST DOWN,” “HOOLIGANG,” and “STARTAFIGHT” kept the throttle pinned, and during “HOOLIGANG” and “GIVE IT TO ME,” the audience was bouncing up and down in unison so hard it felt as if the floorboards were going to give way.
The middle of the set was where HYPERYOUTH’s emotional range got its due. “LIVE RIGHT” is the most vulnerable song JVB have written so far — over a skittering, poignant beat, Joey Valence and Brae speedrun the precipice of youth and adulthood, balancing impenetrable energy with the sobering realization of life and arriving at prevailing truths in simple gems. The crowd, drenched in sweat and singing along, leaned into it completely. “WASSUP” — the JPEGMAFIA collaboration that arrived as the album’s lead single — had the pit in a full uproar, with infectious horns and 808 patterns that make it impossible not to move. Midway through the set, Valence stepped to the front of the stage and asked how many people were sweating. The crowd roared. He shouted back that they’d done their job. Brae then told everyone to hug their friends — and to make friends with the people around them — before the band tore into “IS THIS LOVE,” sending a wave of nervous excitement through the already-sweat-drenched floor.
Coming out of a Penn State dorm room to raging on the Lollapalooza stage and beyond, Joey Valence and Brae’s talent is timeless and their sound is for the hip-hop history books. What made Monday night feel different was the sense that this was a victory lap and a launchpad simultaneously — a band that has outgrown the small corner stages and is still figuring out exactly how large they can get. The announcement of this tour followed a monster year that included an international festival run spanning Lollapalooza Paris, Berlin, and Chicago, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits, with the duo’s music placed across commercials, film and TV, and video games. None of that baggage was present Monday night.
If you get the chance to see JvB when they come to town, make sure you take advantage of the opportunity.
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