| Concert Tour Name: | Say Yes to Life Tour |
| Artist: | Gang of Youths |
| Location: | Australia |
| Album: | Go Farther in Lightness (2017) |
| Start Date: | 28 October 2018 |
| End Date: | 31 January 2019 |
| Number Of Shows: | 21 |
| Support Acts: | Charlie Collins |
| Attendance: | 50,000 |
| Last Tour: | National tour (2017) |
| This Tour: | Say Yes to Life Tour (2018) |
| Next Tour: | Angel in Realtime Tour (2022) |
The Say Yes to Life Tour was the seventh nationwide concert tour by Australian alternative rock band Gang of Youths, and the second supporting their 2017 studio album, Go Farther in Lightness. Spanning 21 sold-out shows across five major capital cities in Australia, with 14 between Sydney and Melbourne alone, the band broke venue records at both the Enmore Theatre and the Forum. The Say Yes to Life Tour received widespread critical acclaim, and was nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Live Act.
In August 2017, Gang of Youths released their second studio album, Go Farther in Lightness. It debuted at number one on the ARIA charts, received widespread critical acclaim from music outlets,[1] [2] and was supported by a national tour with seven shows from August to September 2017.[3] In January the following year, Australian youth radio station Triple J held the Hottest 100 of 2017, which saw Gang of Youths feature a record-equalling three songs in the top 10, with "Let Me Down Easy" placed highest at number two.[4] The album also topped Triple J's annual album poll and received four ARIA Awards, including Album of the Year.[5]
Following a European and North American tour, Gang of Youths announced in May 2018 they would be returning for a second nationwide tour.[6] The Say Yes to Life Tour, named after the closing track on Go Farther in Lightness, originally featured only seven shows.[7] The band were quick to add several additional dates after "selling out their initial run in record time",[8] with five more shows added in Sydney and Melbourne each, and one more in each of the other three cities. Just a week later, they added a seventh night at the Forum Theatre, and a sixth at the Enmore, breaking records for most performances at both venues within a single tour.[9] Days later, they announced a special all-ages show in Melbourne, making for an eighth night in the city. It came after Victorian youth music organisation The Push appealed for the band to perform a show for fans under 18 years old.[10] In total, the band performed 21 shows in the tour.[11]
Performances on the tour were lauded by critics. Reviewing from Sydney, Kate Hennessy of The Guardian said the band were "note-perfect all night". Giving the show five stars, she wrote of her amusement at the frontman's self-deprecating banter, writing: "Le’aupepe bereaves me of any potential critique as I find myself instead utterly swept up in the concert’s central mantra: saying yes to life".[12] Reviewing a Melbourne show for Savage Thrills, Nate Hill wrote of the crowd's engagement with the band's music: "Gang of Youths has a way of turning a punter into a true believer", he wrote, concluding the audience "left the beautiful Forum Theatre feeling as though they had been part of something special".[13]
Writing for the AU Review, Genevieve Morris compared Le'aupepe's stage presence to that of Bruce Springsteen and Michael Hutchence. She said the band consistently had "the whole crowd in a daze" and during the last song, "the whole room felt connected and was absolutely buzzing, which is true credit to the sensory experience Gang of Youths can manufacture". However, she did feel as though some tracks in the set weren't suitable in a live setting, including "Persevere" and "Vital Signs".[14]
At the ARIA Awards of 2019, the tour was nominated for Best Australian Live Act.[15]
This set list is from the Sydney show on 29 November 2018, and is not representative of the entire tour.[16]
Encore
Over 50,000 tickets were sold,[17] and all shows sold out.
| Note: Show added due to demand |
| 28 October | Melbourne | Forum Theatre |
| 29 October | ||
| 31 October | ||
| 3 November | Fremantle | Fremantle Arts Centre |
| 4 November | ||
| 6 November | Melbourne | Forum Theatre |
| 7 November | ||
| 8 November | ||
| 12 November | ||
| 13 November | ||
| 14 November | Hobart | Odeon Theatre |
| 16 November | ||
| 17 November | Adelaide | Thebarton Theatre |
| 18 November | ||
| 22 November | Sydney | Enmore Theatre |
| 26 November | ||
| 27 November | ||
| 29 November | ||
| 30 November | ||
| 31 January |