NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2026
Oh no! Another Stranger Things actor leveraging their fame to become a musician! To be fair, Joe Keery (aka Djo) was a musician, as a bassist and backing vocalist for Post Animal, before he got famous. Did fame boost his fanbase and impact his success as a solo artist? That probably can’t be denied but, at the end of the day, it’s still the music that sustains his musical career. The hordes of women following him around are just a side benefit of being a young, good looking, humble young man. Djo didn’t really tour extensively until 2025, after the release of his third studio album The Crux, following his debut Twenty Twenty in 2019 and Decide in 2022. He might have been a little busy with his acting career as Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. But with more visibility on the road, somehow his 2024 single “End of Beginning”, a Top 30 hit in the US, hit number one in the UK charts this January! Currently on tour with Tame Impala, Djo has set aside some time for a few headlining shows on his days off. On a beautiful Thursday night, July 23rd, ArtPark in Lewiston, NY was lucky enough to host one of those shows.
The opener was Australian psychedelic rock band Pond, with some members that have either played for or are still playing with Tame Impala and vice versa! The band has been pretty prolific in releasing new music, with eleven studio albums since 2009, and their latest Terrestrials released just last month! Pond is led by vocalist Nick Allbrook, a dynamic presence who’s movement around the stage evoked memories of Mick Jagger. With a front row of all young women waiting to see Djo, Allbrook interacted regularly with the crowd and even climbed atop the barricade! I thought for sure that he was about to dive into the crowd!!
Pond played an excellent ten song set, including three from their latest record. Each band member also showed their incredible musicianship as each played multiple intruments. In fact, multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson earned his tag big time as he took turns playing guitar, keyboards, and drums during the set! If it was another show, I would have said that Pond stole the show and, perhaps they did for me but not for the sold out crowd. After their last show with Djo, they will begin their own headlining tour across the US in August.
Click on photos to enlarge
As the sun started to set in Lewiston, the fans were getting antsy, waiting for their idol to appear. Luckily, the music piping through the speakers was lively and had the crowd singing and dancing, but soon, the music cut off and the screaming started!
Djo began his set with “Awake” from The Crux Deluxe, a separate collection of twelve songs recorded during the Crux sessions. Singing partially in the dark, with an orange spot lighting up the left side of his face, the eerie song gave the crowd a chance to settle in. As he switched up the tone with “Change” from Decide, the crowd went wild! In between songs, the audience hung on his every word, whether it was to talk about his amazement at the beauty of ArtPark, his thanking his fans, or prompting the crowd to sing along. Suffice to say that he had his fans wrapped around his little finger.
But back to the music, Djo’s vocals sounded great and the only time I wondered if he had help with a backing track was during a couple of the high falsettos. They did sound a bit too clean but, overall, a great performance from an artist in his prime. His eighteen song set was heavily weighted to The Crux and The Crux Deluxe, as expected, but it was a good mix and the crowd was singing along to much of the set, even without his prompting! He ended his regular set with “End of Beginning”, which surprised me because I assumed it would be the finale. A few fans even started to make their way to the exits but they would have missed out on a nice three song encore, starting with a serenade of “Chateau (Feel Alright)” and ending with the upbeat “Flash Mountain”, both from Twenty Twenty. Djo continues touring with Tame Impala through the first week of August and has one more headlining show at the end of July before festival season start here and in the EU/UK, with a couple of headlining shows in Italy thrown in. Catch him while you can!!
Click on photos to enlarge
