“Live from New York City, it’s the Late Nights & Young Romance Show,” a tape of sombr played over the speakers at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater on Saturday night.
After the recording introduced the “house band of Booses,” a play on sombr’s real name, Shane Michael Boose, it said, “Without further ado, please welcome our musical guest, the one, the only sombr!”
Sombr performed a sold-out show, and the turnout certainly proved it. Initially booked for the Empire Control Room, high demand called for the move to Stubb’s’ larger venue. The U.S. tour began in September and runs through Nov. 6, with the New Yorker ending his tour in Brooklyn.
Making jokes throughout the show, including a “phone your ex and confess” segment, sombr proved himself a Gen-Z comedian. A clever theme of putting on a “late-night talk show” for the crowd possibly referenced when he grew his TikTok fame to wider audiences with his television debut on Jimmy Fallon in May.
“Come on, Austin!” sombr exclaimed while the first notes of “i wish i knew how to quit you” played. Upon recognition of the tune, the crowd erupted. After “we never dated,” the prerecorded segment came over the speakers again.
Sitting down on the couch with an invisible late-night host, sombr told some jokes about his daily routine.
“I wake up about six or seven in the morning,” sombr said, the crowd laughing at the 6-7 joke. “I try to locate my invisible waist, but I hit my head on the door frame. … My pre-show ritual is probably to … make sure my abs look chiseled.”
The voice asked him what he considers his favorite city, other than New York.
“Austin, hook ’em!” sombr shouted before performing “perfume.”
After sombr’s show in D.C., a TikTok user by the name of Meg posted an eight-minute video detailing her experience as a 25-year-old at the sombr concert, with a primarily younger audience, as “one of the worst experiences of (her) life,” criticizing his “brainrot” humor.
Showing his hand touching grass as a “quick tutorial,” sombr responded in a TikTok after the show in Austin on Saturday night.
“Every age, gender, sexuality, race, everyone is welcome at my concert,” sombr said. “You guys need to find problematic people to hate on because I am just existing.”
Most of the show consisted of sombr’s music, to which fans knew every word. He constantly engaged the audience with his entertaining comedic routines and popular songs.
Before singing “caroline,” his first semi-viral song, sombr put on a serious face. He said that without “caroline,” songs like “back to friends,” “undressed” and “12 to 12” wouldn’t exist.
“This has always been a dream of mine my whole life,” sombr said. “All I wanted to do was sell out a small club. … So being here is just fucking surreal to me.”
“Are you ready to hear the hits?” sombr said before playing “undressed,” “canal street,” “crushing,” “under the mat” and finally, “back to friends,” his most-streamed song. Red lights flashing, he closed with “12 to 12.”
“Thank you so much to everyone that came out,” sombr said. “I fucking love you from the bottom of my heart.”