Joywave was “Here To Perform” at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut. Support for their fifth studio album, Permanent Pleasure, continued with the second leg of the tour, cheekily named after the closing track of the album.

The night started with Dallas-based Little Image. The three-piece group was everything you could hope for in an opener — the indie-pop songs were energetic and fun, and each member of the band found ways to engage with the crowd throughout their nine song set. The real standouts were “OUT OF MY MIND” and “RUN FOR FOREVER”, and while the group was new to me, most of the crowd already seemed pretty familiar with their music. 

With the crowd sufficiently warmed, it was time for Joywave to take the stage. They wasted no time, immediately launching into Permanent Pleasure’s second single, “Scared”. The set, largely unchanged from the first leg, was definitely heavy on Permanent Pleasure (as you’d expect), but still maintained a great mix of the band’s other work. With five studio albums and only so much time to play, many bands decide to stick to just the hits, but not here – the setlist was graced with two bonus tracks, “Life in a Bubble I Blew” (from Swish, which is kind of a bonus album in itself) and the live debut of “Yellowish Sunbeam” (from the just-released deluxe edition of Permanent Pleasure). 

The energy was consistently high throughout the night. Frontman Daniel Armbruster quipped about typical New Haven things (pizza, Yale, the fact that Joywave still hasn’t been added to the murals that decorate the inside of historic Toad’s Place), and the rest of the band, though quiet, was clearly having a great time during the set. The already-hyped crowd went crazy for “Buy American”, which recently had a moment on Twitter for being “the best tariff song ever”, and “He’s Back!”, appropriately timed for the week leading up to Easter.

Staging is something the band has always succeeded at — the decor for their tour in support of their 2022 studio album, Cleanse, included the rear end of a sports car, spinning car wash brushes, and the entire band in matching mechanic outfits — and this album cycle has proven to be no different. 

Many of these elements from the album were referenced on-stage – the red backdrop reminiscent of the wallpaper, the circular rug that sat under the drumset an uncanny match to the one depicted on the album cover, and the whole band in matching blue satin pajamas (perhaps a nod to the fifth track, “Sleepytime Fantasy”) – but the real star of the show was the giant cat at center stage. Just like his tiny hand-painted brethren, he sleepily spun in circles while the group played anything but a sleepy set.

I really can’t touch on staging without first talking about the absolute artistry that went into the album design for Permanent Pleasure. If you’ll allow me to geek for a second, it is hands down the coolest record in my collection, and one the neatest ways I’ve ever seen a gatefold album be utilized. When opened, the album pops out into a 3D living room scene, complete with a couch, bookshelf, and TV. Special colorways of the record included a hand-painted figurine of the album’s icon — a sleepy white cat — who, when placed atop the spindle of your record player, lounges on a cozy antique rug (the center sticker of the record).

In lieu of a typical encore, Armbruster told the crowd there were four songs left — and that he had taken a “bucket load” of Sudafed to fend off a minor cold, so he needed the crowd to be loud — before launching into some of the group’s biggest hits. The loudness challenge was fervently accepted by the crowd, who went wild for “Dangerous”, “It’s a Trip!”, and “Swimming in the Glow”. The night ended with “Destruction”, boastfully announced by Armbruster as “the greatest song ever written” — and as someone who’s been a fan of Joywave for almost 10 years, he may be right.

The “Here To Perform” tour runs across the United States until late May, so be sure to grab tickets if they’re coming to a city near you.

Follow Joywave on Instagram here!