Yungblud with Sawyer Hill
Austin, Texas
The Moody Theatre
August 30th, 2025
Every artist’s journey goes at a different pace. Some people take years to claw their way to the surface, while others are thrust into the limelight, maybe a bit too quickly. Starting from the bottom and working your way to the top is no small feat. It takes time, effort, and a hell of a lot of patience. It’s not unheard of to find stories about the (oftentimes literal) blood, sweat, and tears that go into that uphill climb, but when it finally pays off, the result is always worth it.
Starting out in Doncaster, a city in South Yorkshire, England, Yungblud (Dominic Harrison), describes his younger self as what one might call a “typical outcast”. From spiked hair to nails painted black, little Dom was always one for pushing boundaries. When he was given rules that seemed less than fair, he would push back with “whys,” “hows,” and “who saids”.
The attitude carried on over time. A child turned into an adolescent who turned into a teen, and yet the vibrant personality never faded for a second. It’s something that has followed Yungblud around every twist and turn along the way. From England all the way to the United States.
With a sold-out US tour, Yungblud graced American shores for another run across the states, and this time he brought Sawyer Hill – a young 20-something up-and-comer from Fayetteville, Arkansas – along with him for the ride.
The air of excitement inside of Austin City Limits Live was something that could be felt more than anything last Saturday night. A line formed around the block of 2nd Street and Guadalupe in the Texas State Capitol, full of excited fans dressed to impress and full of a palpable energy that followed them through the doors, up the stairs, and one by one through ticket scanning, wrist bands, and security checks.
As 7:00 rolled around, the inside of the venue filled row by row, seat by seat, and by the time Sawyer took the stage, the house was packed full to bursting.
There may have been some in the crowd who were prepared for Sawyer Hill to take the stage, but there were very clearly many who weren’t. Charming as everything, and with a smile on his face, Sawyer is the type of man with a voice that comes as a surprise when you first hear him, and those are sometimes the best artists to listen to.
The lights were set low as the band got on stage, and the crowd erupted into cheers as the lights went up and those guitars began to sing, but the real kicker was the warm, velvety smooth baritone that pumped its way through the house speakers.
Over the years, many-a-band and artist have been found by way of opening a show. It used to be one of the only ways that artists coming up from the underground were able to be found at all, in fact. It’s always been a way to put new music directly in front of someone who may have never heard it otherwise.
Watching the crowd through Sawyer’s set, it was easy to see the faces that were lighting up over the sound. People who knew that immediately after the show, they were about to deep dive into every single note this man has ever written.
Playing favorites of pre-existing fans, like the newest single “Masochistic Lover”, or the classic (recently turned one year old) “High on My Lows”, the Austin audience ate up everything that they were given. This included an absolutely stellar cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.
Nothing will make a Texan lose their mind quite like a reference to Texas itself (even if they weren’t currently in San Antonio).
With Sawyer Hill having done a spectacular job at hyping the crowd up, we all settled into something of a buzz. General admission packed in a little tighter, seats started once again filling from brief bathroom breaks and runs to the merch table. There were little rolling waves of excitement through the building- groups of friends letting out excited squeaks, and peals of laughter cutting through the pre-show playlist.
The entire night had come down to this. The lights drop, and Yungblud’s band takes the stage. Adam Warrington and Sam Simmonds on guitar, Silke Blansjaar on bass, Ben Sharp on drums, Katie Dove-Dixon on keys, and at the end of the walk on, the man of the hour.
Dominic Harrison, now aged 28 – having escaped the 27 club unscathed – has scraped his way to the top. From being kicked out of his producer, Matty Swartz’s studio upon their first meeting , to the uphill climb through chart-topping records like Weird!, and the self-titled Yungblud. All of that has brought him here to this moment in Austin, Texas, far from home, but welcomed to the stage with deafening cheers from elated fans.
It’s been a long time coming.
The last time he was here, back in 2023, had been before the first launch of Bludfest, his very own music festival. The original goal had been simple. Tickets to a festival priced at £50 (approximately $68) for 7 artists at one stage, and 5 at a secondary stage. It had been a huge task to plan something so massive, and now in 2025, he’s done it not once, but twice- with the second run being an even bigger success than the first.
It is with that energy, the one that created a space for people to be unapologetically themselves through music and community, that Dom took the stage on Saturday.
Were there not already a frenzy running through the crowd, the pure ‘vibes’ coming off of him in waves would have been contagious.
Right from the first note of “Hello, Heaven, Hello”, Dominic had everything turned all the way up. Not just to 11, but 25.
Within the first 9 minutes of the show, he proved what fans had already known. Idols is truly his baby- his pride and joy.
The album itself features the strongest vocal performances we’ve seen from Yungblud as a whole, which is impressive in and of itself, but it’s another thing entirely to be able to back that statement up.
The song begins with a belting chorus starting up at a C5- this opener is no joke, and takes quite a bit of nerve to pull out right from the top, but that’s not anything we’re not used to with this man. He’s always been 0-60 in less than 5 seconds.
With a set that is 13 songs long, the idea of not having a single song under 90 beats per minute until the 7th song is absolutely diabolical, but it creates this frenetic energy within the crowd that is impossible to put a damper on.
Even the momentary slowness doesn’t quell that feeling, though. If anything, Dominic launching into a heart-wrenching cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” (after an impassioned speech about the late Ozzy Osborn, a close friend of his) does little more than add fuel to the passion within the crowd. A repeated message that fans have heard time and time again, but that never gets old.
Yungblud was never meant to be a person, but a collective. A congregation of human beings simply trying to find one another in an attempt to belong somewhere.
Nothing else can make that statement ring more true than being amongst a sea of people singing their hearts out to songs that range from things you listen to when driving 90 miles per hour down a back highway, all to lyrics that you sob to yourself when you’re sitting at home on your toughest days.
There is a certain connection at a Yungblud show that is nearly impossible to put words to. The crowd writhes, and twists, and jumps, and sways in unison. People tell perfect strangers that they love them and that they’re glad they’re together.
In Austin on August 30th, it was no different, and yet somehow entirely unique. The way that all good rock shows must be.
When the night comes to a close, it’s with a 2 song encore consisting of “Ghosts” and “Zombie”, both tracks from the newest record.
“Ghosts” is potentially one of the most empowering songs of the night, with its upbeat tempo and declaration of
“But you’ll rise up again
And you’ll fight against the surrender
My friends, don’t wait
Just look up to the sky and say
My God, what a beautiful scene
Now I know what you mean
Wanna stay here forever”
What pulls at the heartstrings of the crowd, however, is the closer.
When “Zombie” starts, tears are immediate for some. A song about pain, about love, and about struggle, but if you listen closely enough, you can hear the undercurrent. It’s about fighting the good fight, about reaching out for help even in your darkest moments.
“Oh, I don’t know what I’ll turn out to be
But you’ll love every moment, believe me
Would you even want me looking like a zombie?
Would you even want me, want me, want me?”
To top off the entire tearjerking moment, Dom pulled up a child from the audience bearing a sign that boasted “My 1st Concert” on it.
Can you imagine your first ever concert being something so beautiful? Not simply a musical performance, but exactly what little Dominic Harrison from Doncaster always wanted.
A community.
After the show, fans were encouraged (perhaps at with too much enthusiasm from venue staff) to congregate just outside beneath “The W” (a sign plastered to the balcony on one side of the W Austin hotel just next door) for a last goodbye.
The crowd gathered, watched, and waited until they were met with one final send-off.
Met with a roar of voices, Dom was all smiles as he shouted down to onlookers (through a bullhorn!) just how grateful he was for the support. (He may have also said something about swearing to “come back to Austin every year until I’m dead”, and might have thrown in something about being back next May.)
All in all, it was a night to remember. A celebration of camaraderie, love, devotion, and togetherness. Not something most people would think of when you tell them you’re going to a rock show, but then again, they’ve probably never been to a Yungblud show.
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Yungblud
Beautiful article about a beautiful concert and the community 🖤