REVIEW: Glass Animals Bring Joy and A Hint of Existentialism to SPAC
6/7 @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Photos by Elissa Ebersold
“This wasn’t just a band playing a tour; it was a group of artists standing in total awe of what they’ve built and who’s still here with them.”
It’s not every day Saratoga gets the first night of something big. But Friday marked the kickoff of the newly announced extension of Glass Animals’ tour, a fresh run of dates added by popular demand. SPAC was the first stop, and you could feel it in the air. The lawn filled up early, the pit was packed, and there was this buzzy, electric energy before anyone even stepped on stage. People came ready for something memorable, and that’s exactly what they got.
I didn’t know much about the opener, Sofia Isella, before this show. I’d seen her name on the poster, but that was about it. So when she walked onto the SPAC stage, poised and confident, like she’d done this a hundred times before, I wasn’t expecting to be so floored. But I was.
Her set was haunting, daring, and entirely her own. Her voice was otherworldly. Her sound pushed against the edges of pop and reshaped it into something spikier, darker, stranger, and way more exciting. She played her own instruments, too—violin and guitar—and she switched between them effortlessly. She’s had such a presence, like she was born to be up there—a star with that it-factor.
There was a moment when I looked around and realized everyone was doing the same thing: looking her up on Spotify, following her on Instagram, and asking each other who she was. People were locked in. You don’t always get that with an opener, but she earned it. One of the strongest opening sets I’ve seen in a long time.
Then, Glass Animals came out to a setup that looked like a spaceship-meets-dream-sequence. The band stood on an elevated platform with trippy visuals behind them, warping shapes, colors, pulsing lights, spaced out just enough to feel like we were about to launch. To the right of the stage sat a pineapple on a little table, and yes, that pineapple would eventually be gifted to two fans in the front who’d been dancing and singing along the entire night like it was their job.
From the jump, the whole thing felt like a celebration—a band looking out at their people and going, “We’re here because of you.” Elissa, who took these beautiful photos, leaned over at one point and said, “I think I just captured the ‘Mom, we made it’ moment,” and she nailed it. The entire set carried that energy. This wasn’t just a band playing a tour, it was a group of artists standing in total awe of what they’ve built and who’s still here with them.
They played songs from every era of their catalog, spanning old favorites, fan classics, and deep cuts, each one met with full-volume crowd response. It was also vocalist Dave Bayley’s birthday, and in the middle of the set, the crowd surprised him by singing “Happy Birthday” all together. He looked genuinely stunned. Not in a performative way, but that honest, real way when something hits you mid-show and you just have to take a breath.
One of my favorite moments came when they played “Gooey”. It’s a personal favorite, the kind of song that clings to memories and makes them shimmer a little brighter. Dave ran all the way out to the lawn during the first half of the song, performing up there like it was the main stage. As someone who’s stood on the SPAC lawn more times than I can count, that moment hit me hard. It felt like he was saying, “I see you, you’re appreciated, let’s fucking do this.” Then he made his way back through the crowd to finish the song with the band, and it was beautiful. It felt alive.
Another standout moment came during “Show Pony”. The visuals during that song were on a whole other level. Blue and red spaced-out digitized chaos that somehow made total emotional sense. It captured something complex and hard to put into words—that ache of being human, the weight of selfhood, the existential stuff you try not to think about too much but feel anyway. It was gut-wrenching and immersive, but also weirdly personal. Like it was holding up a mirror, but doing it gently. It didn’t feel heavy-handed. It felt honest.
That’s the magic of this band. They feel like a group of friends who still love what they do. There’s an ease between them on stage. No ego, just chemistry. The music is tight, the visuals are strange and gorgeous, and the whole thing radiates joy. Not the overly polished kind. The kind that makes you want to live inside it for a while.
Their encore was “Tokyo Drifting”, complete with Denzel Curry’s head appearing in a little glowing orb for his verse (yes, you read that right), and the entire crowd lost it. It was chaotic and funny and so much fun. They ended, of course, with “Heat Waves”—a perfect close to a night full of warmth and gratitude.
We got the first night of the second set of dates, right here in upstate New York. A crowd that showed up early, stayed loud, and knew the words. A band that looked completely stunned by how loved they are. And a night that reminded me why we should all keep showing up to live shows in the first place.
