Michelle Shiers on January 5th, 2015

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Tobias Jesso Jr. certainly isn’t the first or last musician to hand his demo over to another band, but he is one of the few to be acknowledged for it. The Vancouver singer/songwriter opened up Saturday night at the Roxy by thanking headliners Foxygen for their support after he handed them a demo at one of their shows in Canada. With an untamed mop of hair and his keyboard, he humbly moved through a short set of hopelessly romantic songs that kept the teenage girls in the front sighing and giggling at Jesso’s every word. Peaking with the sadly autobiographical “Hollywood,” Jesso proved an unlikely but endearing lead-in to the headliners.

Just before Foxygen emerged, fans poked their heads and cameras under the stage curtain, fidgeting with palpable anticipation. When the veil finally lifted, the whole of the Roxy was in Foxygen’s thrall.

Lead singer Sam France came out kicking, shirtless under a blazer and needing no warm up. Although France and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Rado are at the helm of Foxygen, their live performance is a crowded team effort, with nine members onstage including three energetic backup dancers/singers. France still remained the focal point of the night as he moved with a kinetic strut and out-of-control fury. He leaned over and dropped down into the adoring crowd, pouring water over his bare chest and over the front row. Fans screamed and sang along during “Cold Winter/Freedom,” “Can’t Contextualize My Mind,” “Shuggie” and “We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic,” but ultimately the music was secondary to the onstage spectacle.

Seemingly on the verge of another limb-breaking meltdown, France kept the fans literally on their toes with his amalgam of Iggy Pop/Mick Jagger/Freddie Mercury/David Bowie as he paraded around whipping his hair, falling to his knees and jumping on the back of a guitar-wielding Rado.

Foxygen have feverishly created a sound that shifts from ’60s psychedelia to glam-punk to riff-rock, but as their set at the Roxy progressed, the songs became unmemorable next to the sweat, sequins and unruly abandon. Foxygen returned for an encore featuring “How Can You Really” and “No Destruction,” during which teens crowd-surfed and pulsated with every choreographed kick from the backup singers.

By the end, every single member on stage was completely unhinged with eyeshadow smudged down their faces and Rado grinning at his keyboard.

Photos by Michelle Shiers