On Sept. 26, 2022, singer/songwriter blackbear performed the 14th show of his “Nothing Matters” tour at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, Calif. Vibrant stage lights flashed and fans cheered loudly as the singer walked up on a platform onstage.

He started the concert off with his song “me & ur ghost” from the “Everything Means Nothing” album. This song definitely engaged the audience and was perfect to start with. It wasn’t too slow of a song to the point where it would bore the audience, but it also wasn’t too fast of a song that would drain the audience’s energy at the beginning of the concert. 

Following “me & ur ghost,” blackbear sang “queen of broken hearts” from the “Everything Means Nothing” album. He even added his own improvisations that are not present in the recorded version of the song, which was nice to hear. This song was a little bit quicker than “me & ur ghost” tempo-wise, so it was a nice build-up of energy for audience members. 

A few moments later, the artist brought out his guitar and sang the acoustic version of “idfc” from the “Deadroses” album. This is one of my favorite songs from that album, and the acoustic version is even better. Through the acoustic version, listeners can hear blackbear’s real vocals, and the rhythm of it is different compared to other pop songs. 

Later in the setlist, the beginning of his song “do re mi” from the album “digital druglord” played. Screams echoed and stage lights flickered as he called up a few fans on stage. As they started singing, the audience members that weren’t on stage started screaming the lyrics along with them. I love the recorded version of this song, and the live version of it was even better. I felt that I was able to connect more with the song in a joyous setting. 

Blackbear also sang “dirty laundry” from the “Deadroses” album, which was popular on TikTok in 2020. I love this song of his because it has a catchy beat that makes me want to replay it over and over. Of course, the audience screamed the lyrics to this song as well and everyone at the concert was having a great time. 

The final song—and probably my favorite from that concert—was “hot girl bummer” from the “Everything Means Nothing” album. The catchy beat and stage effects caught my attention, and the audience went wild after the song started playing. This song got me into his music in 2019 and is also one of his songs that got popular on TikTok. The audience definitely had the most energy when they heard this song at the concert, and it felt surreal to listen to it live since I listen to the recorded version of it more often.

Overall, I had a lot of fun at this concert because I got to listen to the live versions of some of my favorite songs of all time. Moreover, blackbear was very kind to his audience and he seemed to be genuinely grateful and appreciative of his fan base. It was definitely a night to remember, and if I could go back to relive any night, I would definitely go back to this one. I believe Foothill Technology High School students would love this concert because of the tuneful beats of blackbear’s songs in combination with the encapsulating stage light effects.