Noah Kahan’s Stick Season Tour this past weekend was well attended by Hamilton College students. After the highly anticipated tour through North America was sold out in March, the folk singer and songwriter announced additional tour dates. Two of these new venues included St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview in Syracuse, NY on Sept. 1 and Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY on Sept. 2.
Noah Kahan released his debut album Busyhead in 2019, where he explores the inner workings of his brain through extraordinary vulnerability and honesty. Kahan released a five-track EP titled
Cape Elizabeth
in 2020 and a year later announced his second album,
I Was / I Am
.
Stick Season
came out in 2022 and the expanded edition of the album,
Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever)
was released in June with seven additional tracks. Stick Season was written during the pandemic, which Kahan spent at his home in rural Vermont. This album allows listeners to romanticize their hometown through unfiltered lyrics straight from his soul and vivid representations of what Kahan loves, fears and struggles with the most.
On Sept. 1, alternative country-pop artist Ruston Kelly opened the show at 8:00 p.m. as the sun set over the shores of Onondaga Lake. Picnic blankets and green rental chairs were spread across the upper lawn of the outdoor concert venue. Crowds of mostly college students, middle-aged couples and families adopted the earthy aesthetic of Kahan’s small town roots by wearing a mixture of flannels, denim, overalls and Birkenstocks. Towards the end of his set, Kelly sang an impressive cover of “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift, which created a lively atmosphere in the crowd as they belted out.
Everyone erupted in cheers as Noah Kahan entered the stage to the opening strums of Northern Attitude. A single spotlight illuminated Kahan and his guitar before the stage lit up in rhythmic golden flashes as the crowd clapped along to the beat of the chorus. The set list included “She Calls Me Back,” “New Perspective,” “Everywhere, Everything,” “Your Needs,” “My Needs, Maine,” “Growing Sideways,” “Paul Revere,” “All My Love,” “False Confidence,” “Call Your Mom,” “You’re Gonna Go Far,” “Orange Juice,” “Dial Drunk,” “The View Between Villages,” “Stick Season” and “Homesick.” The audience transformed into thousands of swaying phone flashlights in the darkness during the electric guitar bridge in “Everywhere, Everything.” “All My Love,” “Dial Drunk,” “The View Between Villages” and “Stick Season” were crowd favorites, accompanied with passionate singing and dancing to the boisterous banjo tunes, upbeat energy and meaningful audio clips of residents from Kahan’s hometown.
Kahan showed his appreciation for the crowd by admitting he was nervous and could not believe the amount of people that had come to see him perform. He cracked jokes with his typical self-deprecating humor, saying that even though it looked like he has been through multiple divorces, he is, in fact, only 26 years old, and introduced his band members with silly nicknames he had invented. He opened up about going to therapy from a young age and his mental health journey with anxiety and depression. He said that writing about these topics has been therapeutic for him, and he hopes his music can connect with people and show them that they are not alone. Kahan’s own mental health initiative, The Busyhead Project, supports organizations specializing in mental health awareness and resources. $1 from every ticket on his Stick Season Tour will go to supporting mental health services through the Plus1 Mental Health Fund.
A group of Hamilton College students at the concert reported that their favorite Noah Kahan songs are “All My Love,” “Orange Juice” and “Homesick.” When asked about whether they felt his music fit the Hamilton College “aesthetic,” a sophomore replied, “Yeah, I think it’s pretty on the nose.” Kahan’s popularity among college students has grown tremendously over the past couple of years, molding these concerts into a youthful and vibrant community of people who are away from home and celebrating the beauties of growing up in New England through his moving lyrics. There is no doubt that the 42,000 people he performed for this weekend will remember his words forever, “‘til our fingers decompose.”
