Daisy the Great Concert Review: A Night of Heartfelt Harmonies and Humors
Daisy the Great made themselves memorable and approachable through their songs, conversations with the crowd, and sprinkles of dry humor.“Hey, what’s up, Boston? We’re Daisy the Great.”
Amidst rays of misty blue and red lights at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway on March 8, the indie-rock band entered the stage, opening for the two British rock bands The Vaccines and The Kooks. With a brief set of seven songs, the band of four kicked off the night with a mix of TikTok hits, signature numbers, and unreleased new songs, presenting their distinctive harmonies and infectious melodies to the audience.
After embarking on their first headlining tour last April in Boston, the Brooklyn-based band returned to Boston nearly a year later with singer-songwriters Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker on lead vocals, guitarist Nardo Ochoa, and drummer Matti Dunietz. They began their show with “Glitter,” a song that seamlessly blends pop rock instrumentals with dreamy voices and lyrics. Dugan’s high-pitched vocals fit effortlessly and perfectly with Walker’s, creating a simultaneously ethereal and grounded harmony.
The band continued the show with their most streamed song on Spotify, “The Record Player Song” — which, according to the band, was the first song that they ever released in 2017. The song went viral on TikTok in 2021, receiving millions of views from influencers taking on the “one breath challenge” and leading to an invitation from AJR to produce a remix titled “Record Player.” Daisy the Great captivated the crowd with catchy lyrics and infectious melodies, prompting the audience to move with the music even if they were not familiar with the song.
Daisy the Great artfully managed to draw in audience members who might not have been familiar with their discography. Following “The Record Player Song,” the band played three unreleased new songs: “Dream Song,” “Ballerina,” and “Dog.” Ochoa’s guitar solos in “Ballerina” and “Dog” were cathartic to witness, eliciting enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Through this performance, the audience got an unexpected, exclusive view of three songs that are yet to be recorded.
“When we got back from that [European tour], we started writing,” Daisy the Great said. “And we wrote like 30 songs, so we wanted to play some of them for you!”
As the performance continued, the band grew more at ease with the audience, bringing in jokes to interact with the crowd between songs. While introducing the sixth song, “Liar,” Dugan told the audience that “Liar” is about having a “tormented crush” on a friend.
“Raise your hand if you have a big crush on your friend!” Dugan shouted out to the crowd. “Sometimes people have a crush on their friend, but they don’t want to raise their hand because they are with their friend.”
She asked the crowd to wink at her if they could not raise their hand as she began to strike her guitar. As Dugan belted out the first line of “Liar,” and as the band blasted their drums, guitar, and bass, the song’s live rendition became more powerful and intimate.
Contrary to the previous songs on the setlist, the gentle melodies in the final song, “Time Machine,” accentuated the ethereal harmonies between Dugan and Walker. Green and white stage lights set this song apart from the rest of the performance, which was otherwise dominated by red, blue, and purple. In a moment of dark humor, Dugan mentioned that “Time Machine” was about “the end of the world” — a message that fittingly ended the opening performance. It was a song of nostalgia, of longing to go back to a previous time: the perfect finale to an intimate performance.
Daisy the Great made themselves memorable and approachable through their songs, conversations with the crowd, and sprinkles of dry humor. Their performance was engaging and intimate, inspiring the crowd to dance and laugh for the rest of the night.
—Staff writer Xinran (Olivia) Ma can be reached at xinran.ma@thecrimson.com.