Alternative rock band, Citizen celebrated the 10th anniversary of their debut album Youth with a short tour across the United States. The Decade of Youth shows included a stop in Los Angeles, California with a sold out show at The Wiltern on Saturday, June 24. The band performed their debut album in its entirety alongside new music.
Citizen’s seven-date tour Decade Of Youth quickly sold-out following its announcement. The Ohio-based rock band performed at cities such as Queens, Chicago, Boston and Austin before heading to the West Coast to perform their final two shows in SoCal. Special guests Fiddlehead and Dizort joined Citizen for the celebratory performance at The Wiltern before closing out the tour in Anaheim on June 25.
The LA Decade of Youth performance became a bit emotional for some of the band members of Citizen. The band reflected on their early years and the hard times and struggles they faced before taking off as an alternative rock band. Vocalist Mat Kerekes shared with fans that he was having a hard time with life changes and would share a bed with lead guitarist Nick Hamm at the time in which they were working on their debut record.
“I remember one night I said to Nick ‘you know, maybe it’s uh not a bad thing that things aren’t so good right now because, uh, maybe we’ll make something pretty cool out of it’ and Nick said ‘yeah, maybe’,” recalled Kerekes. “Every time I see the Youth album art, or hear the songs, or play the songs, I think of that conversation specifically because um, I think we were right. And it took up until now to realize that, seeing all the nice things that people were saying for the 10 year and uh — I wish that we back then could see what I’m looking at right now, because I would have never believed it, and I know it would have made me really happy.”
The crowd really showed their love and support for the band throughout the night as the entire venue sang and danced along to every song. The energy was kept at such a high level that many fans crowd surfed in the pit and mosh pits were formed throughout the venue. With flowers arranged all over the stage mimicking the Youth album art work, the band performed all 10-tracks exactly as arranged on the record, but with a higher intensity and passion. Citizen also surprised fans with an encore performing four extra songs such as “I Want to Kill You,” “Jet,” “Death Dance Approximately,” and their latest single “If You’re Lonely.”
It was clear how appreciative Citizen is for their fans’ support over the years. It’s also apparent just how passionate the band is in regards to creating and sharing their music. Their show this past Saturday was performed in darkness with only synchronized lighting illuminating the backdrop of the stage ringing in a higher focus on the music itself. The entire venue, attendees and the band, bonded over the music that the band wrote as high schoolers in 2013.
Citizen is set to perform at the second annual When We Were Young Festival on October 21, 2023 in Las Vegas where punk rock legends Blink-182 and Green Day will headline. For more information on Citizen visit citizentheband.net.
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