OK Go live at the Crystal Ballroom, June 19th, 2025
If someone asked me to describe OK Go in concert with one word, it would be confetti. And for a band like OK Go, this just made sense. There was so much confetti at the end of OK Go’s show at the Crystal Ballroom on June 19, 2025, that attendees made angels, slid around in the piles and threw fistfuls into the air like it was snow. The Crystal Ballroom saw several inches of confetti-fall that night, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a record. As they were ushering people out of the venue at the end of the night, venue staff urged attendees to take the confetti home and used leaf blowers to corral the piles of confetti into the trash.
Though it’s been about 20 years since I was first introduced to OK Go (thanks to their viral mid-2000s music video for “Here It Goes Again”), this was my first time seeing the band live. Basing my expectations on the eccentric and elaborate music videos they are known for, I knew seeing them live would be an equally elaborate experience, and in that regard, they did not disappoint. A photographer friend of mine that had shot an earlier show on the tour had even warned me about the confetti, though I was still blown away as I found myself dodging confetti, trying my best to lock in my focus amidst the rainfall of paper. As I had expected of them, OK Go put just as much thought and planning into their live performance as they do their music videos — they truly went above and beyond the typical concert experience. Aside from the pomp and circumstance of confetti blasts during almost every song, the evening was also filled with comic relief. A strategic and entertaining way of filling time between songs (something needed with the elaborate set up for certain songs), they told stories and took questions from the audience.
OK Go didn’t hold back with their answers, either. When a fan asked which of their videos was the hardest to shoot, lead vocalist Damian Kulash answered with “Upside Down & Inside Out”, jokingly hinting at what happens when you get car sick in zero gravity.
Touring in support of their recent release And The Adjacent Possible, OK Go comprised their setlist with seven songs from the latest album, saving the rest of the 20 song setlist for old hits, including, of course, the one Kulash got sick making the music video for: “Upside Down & Inside Out”. The band started the evening out on a high note with the popular “This Too Shall Pass” from their 2010 album Of The Blue Colour of The Sky. Kulash immediately jumped the barricade and joined the audience in the crowd as the first confetti blast rained down over us. They followed the momentum of “This Too Shall Pass” with “Get Over It” from their debut self-titled 2002 album.
Ok Go later added to the eccentricity of their set with a rendition of “Shooting The Moon” played on bells. Kulash added his comedic input to the song’s introduction, saying “We the band Ok Go do believe humans have walked on the moon. Having said that, this is a song from the perspective of the person who had to lie about doing so.”
After “Shooting The Moon” on bells, Kulash appeared in the middle of the venue floor on the venue’s B-stage for an acoustic performance of “This Is How It Ends” from And The Adjacent Possible.
Finally, OK Go closed out their main set with the popular “Here It Goes Again” before returning for an encore of a cover of “There She Goes” by The La’s (which Kulash joked about, remembering an audience member who once thanked him after a show for playing “that Six Pence None The Richer song”) followed by “A Stone Only Rolls Downhill,” and ending with “The One Moment” from their 2014 album Hungry Ghosts, a fitting finale considering the memories made this evening. From the kids in the audience donning shirts that said “I stayed up late to see OK Go” to their parents and grandparents as well as my fellow childless millennial fans, “this [night] will be the one thing we remember”.
Supporting OK Go on tour was L.A. Exes, a self-proclaimed “queertet” — a quartet comprised entirely of femme queers. Since they were added as support to the tour after many of the dates, including Portland, had already sold out, it was pretty much guaranteed that no one in the audience had come for them. Nevertheless, they wowed the audience with their quirky surf pop vibes and left a lasting impression. Guitarist Vanessa Wheeler and lead vocalist and bassist Sam Barbera often faced each other and exchanged smiles. Their surf pop energy got people dancing and adequately primed for OK Go. Considering they were added as support onto the newly announced second leg of OK Go’s And The Adjacent Possible tour, I think it’s safe to say they won over new fans and succeeded as OK Go’s support act.
