Concert Reviews

YUNGBLUD Concert Photos and Review

by Brooks Robinson

Updated May 27, 2026

YUNGBLUD – Arizona Financial Theatre – May 25, 2026

After seeing YUNGBLUD live in Las Vegas last week, celebrated rock and metal radio/podcast/television host Eddie Trunk proclaimed on Facebook ““This could be the guy that brings rock back to where we want it to be. Best hope for that I’ve seen in a long time. Amazing what’s going on here. This is great for rock and its future.”

YUNGBLUD

YUNGBLUD (Dominic/Dom Harrison) played the completely sold-out Arizona Financial Theatre on Monday night as part of his Idols – The World Tour, and it was a show unlike any I’ve seen before. I knew from seeing his performance at Ozzy Osborne’s final show at Back to the Beginning, where he had 45,000 people chanting along to his rendition of Black Sabbath’s “Changes”, that he was a force to be reckoned with, and I needed to do whatever I could to photograph his show.

Other photographers and media outlets apparently felt the same way. I’m based in Los Angeles, and shows in LA, San Diego, and Las Vegas had maxed out on media early, so in a last-ditch effort, I applied to shoot the YUNGBLUD show in Phoenix. Upon hearing that I’d been approved, the wife and I loaded up the car with photo gear and headed out for an 800-mile round trip with a quick 24-hour turnaround – it would be well worth the effort.

The first thing I noticed when standing in the photo pit with the other photographers, security, and the YUNGBLUD video team, was the demographic of the audience. Most rock shows I’ve been to lean heavily towards men, but this was quite the opposite. Looking out into the vastness of the venue and the 6000 people in attendance, there were a few men sprinkled into the audience, but by and large it was mostly women. In circling back to Eddie Trunk’s comment, this show felt like a shift – in recent years, guitar driven rock music has not been in the forefront of popularity. If you attend a festival like Aftershock or Louder Than Life and see 40,000 people per day going crazy, it’s obvious that rock is still popular and growing - but if you go to a high school party, or a college dorm and sample the music coming from within, by and large it’s music made on computers, with few, if any live instruments. YUNGBLUD may have cracked the code and seems to be single-handedly bringing back interest in guitar-driven rock in a demographic largely apathetic towards it. Proof of his increased popularity can be easily tracked - YUNGBLUD was playing 1000-2000 capacity venues in 2025, and less than a year later, his shows play in venues that house 5000-10,000.

The other thing of note about the audience was they weren’t casual fans. People weren’t there because it was Memorial Day, and there was nothing else to do in Phoenix – they were there because they had to be. The crowd knew all the words to all the songs, and weren’t shy about singing along at full volume – they were hands-down the most enthusiastic audience I’ve ever seen. I’m not suggesting that YUNGBLUD is the next coming of the Beatles, and the teenage madness that swept across America in the mid-60’s with the onslaught of the British invasion, but young and old were unified in celebrating him and needing to be in the room with him.

It’s over simplifying things to say that people's attraction to him and his music is due to his sex-symbol status – yes, he’s attractive, and yes, he’s wearing leather pants and shaking his ass, but there’s substance behind his looks, a message he shares with fans through his lyrics, and a bond he’s built with his growing number of followers. In an interview with Junkee Magazine last year, he said, ““I fucking hate the pedestal. Fuck fandom, let's be mates. That's what Yungblud is about. Friendship. Fuck, I don't call 'em my fans, I call 'em my family because I'm like, we came together under the banner of a mutual idea — that means we're friends. That means we're family..”

On to the show. Photographers initially had to stand to the side of the pit because the show started with confetti canons going off. As confetti rained down on the screaming audience, YUNGBLUD made his appearance by jumping high in the air off the drum riser and heading straight to the lip of the stage. He wasn’t there for long – for the entire duration of the show, he was in constant motion – jumping in the air, throwing mic stands, strutting from side to side, striking poses, making eye contact with individual fans, and singing his ass off.

This show had a little bit of everything – pyro, video screens with feeds from six or seven cameras, violins, and most importantly, the charismatic rock star himself. YUNGBLUD wears his influences on his sleeve – at times he struts like Mick Jagger, he’ll twirl the microphone on its cable through the air reminiscent of Roger Daltrey, and he displays the confident swagger of Freddy Mercury – knowing that he owns the room and that all eyes without fail are on him. His face was expressive and emoting, and he was playful and engaging with the audience.

Two standout moments sum up what the show was really about – the first was during the song “Fleabag”. YUNGBLUD pulled a kid up from the audience to play guitar. As the song kicked in, YUNGBLUD jumped into the crowd with his microphone and made a B-line to the soundboard at the back of the venue, cutting through the middle of the standing room only GA pit. Fans scrambled to get closer, to touch or high-five him, to be in his orbit. He jumped on top of the wall separating the soundboard from the crowd and walked precariously along it until he stopped to sing the rest of the song from high atop a road case for the gear. Fans in the back of the room were suddenly front row, and the place went wild. As the song wound down, he made his way back to the stage – not hurriedly, but taking his time and allowing fans to circle around him, while he shouted out the kid who was wearing his guitar, “Make some fucking noise for Ezra!”.

The second highlight for me was during his cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes”. He dedicated the song to Ozzy, and encouraged fans to “Sing loud enough so he can hear you up there.”, which the audience enthusiastically did. As at the Back to the Beginning show last year, note for note, word for word, the crowd roared back Ozzy’s lyrics at the top of their lungs, and it was incredible to behold kids in the audience singing lyrics that are almost 55 years old. At the merch booth, little pieces of purple paper were given away with wording that encouraged you to hold the paper in front of your cellphone flashlight and create a purple glow during “Changes”. Looking out at the crowd during that emotional song to witness a sea of purple light as thousands of voices carried the enduring words of Ozzy Osborne into the rafters left a lasting impression.

The exhilarating night ended with the song “Zombie”. As I exited the venue and walked to the parking garage across the street, groups of happy and excited fans sang the chorus to “Zombie”, apparently not quite ready to be done with the night and their YUNGBLUD experience.

YUNGBLUD’s touring band is:

YUNGBLUD - Vocals
Adam Warrington – Guitar
Silke Blansjaar – Bass/Guitar
Ben Sharp – Drums
Sam Simmonds – Guitar
Katie Dove-Dixon – Keyboards
Helena Logah – Violin
Nicole Alexandra - Violin

Setlist:

1) Hello Heaven, Hello

2) The Funeral

3) Idols Pt. I

4) Lovesick Lullaby

5) My Only Angel

6) Fleabag

7) Lowlife

8) Changes

9) I Need You (To Make the World Seem Fine)

10) Fire

11) Loner

Encore

12) Ghosts

13) Zombie

The Warning

I’d seen this kick-ass hard rock trio from Monterrey, Mexico two years ago at a music festival, and knew they not only brought great songs, but also an incredible energy and stage presence. The Warning is comprised of three sisters - Daniela on guitar, Paulina on drums, and Alejandra on bass, and they are a force of nature. The band formed in 2013 when they were only kids, and were discovered when their cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” caught the attention of Kirk Hammett, and went viral on YouTube – Alejandra, the youngest sister, was only 9 years old at the time.

Their tight, eight song set was explosive, and they slipped in a new unreleased song “Ritual”, which will be included on their fifth record due out later this year Before playing their last song, Daniela said “We’re grateful to be here on a night that celebrates rock & roll.” – rock & roll was definitely the throughline theme of the night, and The Warning made a huge and lasting impression on the Phoenix audience with their personalized brand of it.

The Warning is:

Daniela Villarreal Vélez – Guitar
Paulina Villarreal Vélez- Drums
Alejandra Villarreal Vélez – Bass

Emily Wolfe

Austin-based singer/songwriter/guitarist Emily Wolfe was celebrating her 7^th wedding anniversary on Monday, and used the occasion to perform an incendiary set, kicking off an amazing night of music. Bringing her own unique and timeless approach to rock music, Emily’s guitar-driven set featured powerful vocals and a simple back-to-basics approach as a performer and musician, coupled with an in-your-face delivery. Despite only being a three-piece, the sound coming from the stage was huge and full, and filled the large theater with ease – Emily is a formidable musician, and those skills were masterfully showcased for the Phoenix crowd.

Emily Wolfe's touring band is:

Emily Wolfe – Vocals/Guitar
Adam Jessamine – Bass
Jon Brick - Drums

Brooks Robinson Photographer & Writer

Brooks Robinson is an LA-based concert photographer, and 30+ year freelance camera operator for film, television, and music videos. He has photographed some of the largest film/TV projects in history, and hundreds of music videos in MTV's heyday.

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