There was a UK invasion in Lincoln Wednesday (2/23) as pop-rocker Yungblud and his pals in Canadian-American rock band Palaye Royale took over the Bourbon Theater.
Presented by Lincoln stations 1041. The Blaze and 106.3 KFRX, this was a really cool crossover show. While Palaye Royale leans more rock and alternative, Yungblud's style ranges from pop-punk, hip-hop, metal, and even a bit of UK Ska. So needless to say, there was a great mix of fans in the building. I spotted a Five Finger Death Punch, Drake, Eminem, Dirty Honey, and even a Randy Travis shirt!
With so many tours happening this year we've had a blast getting to check out a lot of different genres beyond the rock scene. We recently did a feature on the hyper-pop band Cheat Codes and we have a country show coming up on March 12 featuring Tyler Rich and SixForty1, at Barnato Lounge in West Omaha.
My Co-Founder Virginia and I pulled up to the Bourbon Theater to find the line wrapped around the building far down the block. Even the ridiculous single digit temperature couldn't stop these young fans from camping out hoping to claim the perfect spot.
We made our way to the front camera gear in hand, ready to capture all the craziness. I got settled into the pit and waited for the show to begin. Judd from 106.3 KFRX stepped out and got the crowd hyped up. "Yungblud is back stage, let's let him know you're here!"
I've been a part of dozens of crowds at the Bourbon over the last few years, but honestly, this was definitely one of the loudest. There's no doubt Yungblud could hear the roar that was elicited from these excited fans.
In addition to the insane combo of Yunblud & Palaye, newcomer Poutyface was on hand to open the show. Poutyface, a young singer-songwriter from L.A. has several songs on Spotify, one of which, "Deathwish" has almost six million plays.
We had a chance to catch up with Poutyface after her set. Check out the interview towards the bottom of the article!
As Poutyface and her band stepped into the darkness the opening notes of "Deathwish" pumped out over the speakers. The deep bass and Disney-tinged whistle are an interesting take. The music is upbeat and happy, but the lyrics are more dark and twisted "Got a death-wish checklist, don't matter if you change your address, sing you to sleep while I step on your necklace, drop top, leave a F-boy headless".
Poutyface with the help of her full band had the crowd rocking from the start. Unlike some pop shows where the artist just plays to tracks, Poutyface's voice was on full display with guitars and drums backing her up. It made for a really full sound and got the party going!
After Poutyface it was time for the wild boys, Palaye Royale. I was so stoked to see these guys again after seeing them at River Riot a few years back. When it comes to style Palaye is all about high-fashion, even self-describing as a fashion-art rock band.
You'll never find Palaye without their signature mod-70s suits and scarves. But make no mistake, the clothes aren't a gimmick! Taking inspiration from The Animals, The Doors, Bowie, and T. Rex, Palaye always brings the groove, and last night (2/23) was no exception! The crowd was on their feet going hard for the whole 45 minute set. If you get the chance to catch Palaye Royale, especially on a headline run, make sure you go for it, you won't regret it. Check out more photos in the gallery at the bottom.
Quick side story... While we were waiting to interview Poutyface (see interview below) I saw a guy in a custom Saul jacket by the merch booth. He sat down on the couch and I noticed he had some neck tattoos. I said "Wait a minute, that's Willie, the bass player from Saul!" I walked over and we chatted for a while about the show that I got to shoot for them a few months ago, new Saul music on the way, and our love of 2000s metalcore like Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold. It was like the cherry on top of a most stellar evening. Ok back to the main story...
After Palaye Royale the stage set-up revealed a stack of 20 (yes you read that right) Marshall amps! I told Virginia "If those are real and actually hooked up we're all going to die as our ears bleed and explode!" Luckily I don't think they were actually hooked up. While it was pretty loud, no one's head exploded.
As the lights went out a mouth was projected onto the amps. In a British accent the mouth opened and said "Lincoln, Nebraska, are you ready?" The crowd was going absolutely nuts as Yungblud and his band hit the stage.
Wearing a crop-top mechanic's shirt with a name-tag too R-rated for our site and skin tight black leather pants, Yungblud oozed rock and roll swagger.
The band kicked things off with "Strawberry Lipstick" from the 2020 release Weird. With a high-school pep rally beat and melodic grooves it was a great opener. The crowd screamed along with every word as they bounced, took pictures, and waved signs for the naughty UK rocker.
Yungblud was a fun, but challenging shoot. He had so much energy moving all over the stage, doing high jumps and air kicks. It made for some interesting shots, but boy was it tough to catch him!
The band moved into some more tracks from Weird including "Parents" and "Superdeadfriends" before Yungblud strapped on his guitar and got his skank on! His song "I Love You, Will You Marry Me" which was arguably his first big breakout hit is a total Ska banger! "Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!" I was getting down to the UK Ska sounds, "hut, hut, hut!"
Before slowing things down with the song "Mars" a video projected onto the Marshall amps and talked about inclusion and being free to present yourself as whoever you want to be. "Look around you, everyone here is your family and they'll lift and support you". Yungblud is all about self expression and the freedom to stand out as an individual. He's definitely letting the freak flag fly and it's awesome!
In a move that you don't normally see these days, Yungblud played 15 songs over nearly two hours! He and the band gave the sold out crowd everything they had. The next time Yungblud plays Lincoln I don't think the Bourbon will be big enough!
Check out the interview with Poutyface and galleries below! If you like our content please take a minute to follow our socials. It's completely free and it helps keep us going. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram @storiesfromthecrowd
INTERVIEW WITH POUTYFACE
Stories from the Crowd: So I assume this is the coldest stop on the tour so far? Poutyface: Oh yea.
Stories: You're from the West coast, right?
PF: Yea, I lived in Georgia for a bit, but I'm currently on the West coast. Is it always this cold in Lincoln?
Stories: It can be, but this is really freaking cold, haha! So how many shows do you guys have left on the tour?
PF: Um, 16 shows. This is only our second night on the tour and our third night as a band.
Stories: Oh cool, so did you get a lot of practice together before this?
PF: We rehearsed for a few weeks leading up to the tour in Nashville. My drummer's from Nashville and so is my manager and it's a lot cheaper to rehearse there than L.A.
Stories: Cool! So I read up about some of your musical tastes and you said you had a pretty wide range. What's the band or artist that made you want to get into music?
PF: Specifically Coldplay, Parachutes. That album from a very young age made me feel some kind of way and really made me want to start writing songs.
Stories: That's awesome. Do you come from a musical background? Was your family into music growing up?
PF: Actually no, my Dad works in a grocery store and my Mom is a speech pathologist. My Mom was in choir growing up but that was about it.
Stories: That's cool. It's kinda funny how musicality runs in families. My Dad plays in a band, my younger brother plays in two bands, my middle brother plays keyboards, but I don't play anything. Taking photos and writing about the music is the extent of my talent. It's just a different type of art I suppose.
Stories: So what's the first show you ever went to?
PF: I'm not sure if you've heard of them, but it was Kaylin and Myles. I was friends with this girl and I really wanted to be tight with her. I didn't know any of the songs, but I pretended I did. The first real show that I was like "I'm so excited for this" was um... The Front Bottoms!
Stories: Oh!!!! I love The Front Bottoms! So we have this station in Omaha, 89.7 The River and one of the DJs Corey really helped us out when we were first starting. He took me to a Front Bottoms show. I didn't know a ton about them, but I was blown away!
PF: They're soooo good!
Stories: It was an awesome show. It was about a 1,000 cap room.
PF: Those are some of the best shows. That's about how many this venue is too, right?
Stories: Yea I think it's around 1,000. How big was the show last night?
PF: It was 2,000! So our first show as a band was at this venue called "The Basement" in Nashville. We went from about 100 people to 2,000 last night, now 1,000 tonight. We're just rolling with it!
Stories: Wow, that's wild! I wanted to ask you about this Voicey app. I hadn't heard of it before, but I saw in your bio you had some success by writing music and putting on the platform?
PF: Yea I started writing music when I was 13, and I went through this really intense writer's block when I was about 15-16. My manager, this is how we starting working together, said "I have a friend who's starting this music app called Voicey and I think it could help". You can go on and write like 15-30 second hooks, producers can upload beats, guitarists can upload small bytes of a verse, etc. It's pretty cool. The layout is basically like TikTok, but for songwriters. That's how I got back into songwriting, so it's played a pretty integral role as a songwriter.
Stories: Cool, so did you write a hook and end up with collaborating with a producer?
PF: Yea you can scroll through and work with all different types of producers. That app is actually how I came up with my stage name. I wrote a song on the app called Poutyface. We were looking at band names and we decided to go with Poutyface. So without the app I might not even be here right now.
Stories: Nice. Do you have any tour plans after this or do you have any artists you hope to be able to tour with soon?
PF: In April we go back to L.A. for about a month to build out a bigger set. My set tonight was about 25 minutes, so we'll work on getting it up to about a 45 minute set. Then we're going to Europe to play Great Escape fest which is in Brighton. After that we're playing some small clubs like Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, all places I've never been.
Stories: Wow, I'm so excited for you! That's living the dream!
PF: Yea we're really stoked. Tour wise, I would love to tour with Ashnikko or Dominic Fike. That would be so sick.
Stories: For sure. If you could curate your own festival who would be your headliners? I know mine would be Deftones, AFI, Coheed & Cambria, and then closing out the show would be The Hives from Sweden! Sorry, I hijacked your answer, lol!
PF: Lol! Nothing comes to mind off the top of my head, but I would love to put together a festival for up and coming smaller artists, specifically female artists. Or maybe just make it an all female festival, I think that would be really awesome.
Stories: For sure! Thanks so much for talking with us. We really enjoyed your set!
