On Oct. 3, Del Water Gap kicked off his North American tour with a sold-out show at the Music Box in Downtown San Diego.
Just five days before, Del Water Gap — also known as S. Holden Jaffe — released his sophomore album, “I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Even Left Yet.”
“This album is for you. Thank you for giving it its name,” Jaffe said in an Instagram post on Sept. 29, the day of the album release. “Thank you for giving me so much. I miss you already.”
The lead single from the new album, “All We Ever Do Is Talk,” also serves as the album opener. With the upbeat instrumentals and melancholic lyrics, it foreshadows the theme of the album as he sings “It was good, didn’t want it to end. But will we ever get that feeling again?”
Before his show, San Diegans waited in line full of anticipation. Just from the vibe alone, fans of Del Water Gap were eager to hear songs from the new album and Jaffe’s older projects, like “Del Water Gap.
Jaffe opened with “NFU,” another single from his new album. The opening notes of the song — showcasing synth and drums — automatically sent a wave of energy throughout the crowd.
Jaffe has openly talked about the burnout he experienced on previous tours, but he ran onto stage with such enthusiasm in which the audience could tell that he was excited to perform.
Despite the album coming out a short five days earlier, fans recited lyrics as Jaffe sang “I still love you. You say it’s okay, but it’s not.”
As the show went on, Jaffe played songs from most of his projects, giving his whole discography well-deserved recognition. “Better Than I Know Myself” was the first song from his debut album “Del Water Gap” to appear on the setlist.
Some of his deeper cuts were also showcased, in which songs like “Laid Down My Arms” and “Chastain” from his 2019 EP “Don’t Get Dark” were met with shrieks of excitement from fans.
A stand out song from the show was “Perfume,” a song from his first album about falling in love while out at dive bars, trying to beat the card shark at their own game and the desires that come with it.
Its poppy and catchy beat made the crowd erupt in cheers. The energy was so infectious, Jaffe came down from the stage and onto the barricade, holding hands with fans before jumping over the barricade. As he was singing, dancing and jumping in the crowd, it made the show feel like a dance party in one’s living room surrounded by their best friends.
The energy from “Perfume” carried over to next two songs, “All We Ever Do Is Talk” and “Coping on Unemployment,” which were his first two singles from the “I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Even Left Yet” album rollout.
Saving these two songs to be some of the last in the set felt full circle as the two songs that listeners heard from Jaffe’s new album were the last performed at the show. The enthusiasm from Jaffe and the crowd fed off of one another.
Before the crowd knew it, the lights went down and Jaffe ran off of the stage, leaving the audience cheering for an encore.
A few minutes later, Jaffe was back on stage, on his knees in front of the TV with a gray screen, playing “We Will Never Be Like Anybody Else,” the closing and arguably most vulnerable song on the new album.
The simplicity of the performance of the song catered to the intimacy of the song itself, showing that the words were what Jaffe wanted the audience to focus on. Toward the middle of the song, Jaffe got off of his knees and walked over to the microphone stand. He proceeded to sing the rest of the song with one singular light illuminating from the back of the stage. Once the song ended, he grabbed his guitar.
The last performance of the set was his most popular song, “An Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat.”
Everybody in the room knew the words, and screamed them to make sure Jaffe knew it. Both Jaffe and the crowd gave everything they had during this song, making each other’s night as memorable as possible. When the house lights turned on, the audience sat in awe of the performance Jaffe gave.
One may say, the crowd had missed him already.
Jaffe took to Instagram the day after the show and posted pictures recapping the night.
“Thank you San Diego,” Jaffe said in an Instagram post on Oct. 4. “What a way to begin <3.”
Del Water Gap will continue the 31-date tour across North America for the rest of October until mid-November. The tour will conclude on Nov. 17 in Los Angeles at the Fonda Theatre.
