Live Review: You Am I

You Am I bandleader Tim Rogers, dressed in his Seinfeld-esque puffy shirt, began the night by saying, “Alright, let’s get to work,” before launching into The Sweet Life. Rogers has the attitude and the moves of a frontman of 30 years.

Unfortunately, the crowd was sparse, but this gave dedicated fans more room to dance – with Rogers’ encouragement: “What we play is dance music, if you wanna dance, you’re in the band. Welcome to the band, everybody.”

While the way the band looked on stage was incredibly appealing, they almost didn’t match their music. Sometimes, the audio was loud and difficult to make out. Rogers struggled to be heard over the dominating guitar of Davey Lane, and Andy Kent's bass was lost in the noise. You could identify a song thanks to the crowd’s singing and Rusty Hopkinson’s drums, but the sound was mostly a mushed mess. However, this didn’t seem to matter to the crowd – they just wanted to sing along to the songs they loved. 

Rogers’ persona made up for the lack in sound quality, cracking jokes, telling anecdotes, and always reminding us, “It’s a Saturday night in San Francisco, let’s dance.” At the end of an hour-and-a-half set, Rogers stripped away his egotistical persona to genuinely thank the crowd and say, “Thanks for giving us a chance.” No encores, no messing around and the show was over. 

This was not a gig for first-timers and people unfamiliar with the band. This was a gig for fans who know the lyrics by heart, fans who have been with You Am I for at least 20 years.