On March 4, New Haven native Samuel Holden Jaffe (aka Del Water Gap) took to College Street Music Hall’s stage for the final North American show of the “Chasing the Chimera” tour, days before heading overseas. The performance was originally scheduled for Jan. 26, but was rescheduled due to a snowstorm. It’s safe to say this show was well worth the wait.

Opening up the night was Leyla Ebrahimi, an up-and-coming indie pop artist who brought the energy in the venue up the moment she stepped onto the stage.

Despite only beginning her career as a musician two years ago, she owned the stage like a seasoned professional through her animated personality and impressive vocal range. Her overpowering vocals and captivating lyrics had the crowd hyped and dancing along. As she wrapped up her set, newfound fans erupted into applause, cheering their praise as she exited.

The energetic tension built from Leyla boiled over once Del Water Gap appeared on stage, opening with “Small Town Joan of Arc,” the second track off the tour’s titular album. Following this, he kept the high energy going with “Sorry I Am,” “Better Than I Know Myself” and “Please Follow.” 

I’m convinced that Del Water Gap did not stop moving for the entirety of the concert; his mannerisms reflected each song he performed perfectly. His understanding of his own music and the crowd’s energy was perfect: knowing when to dance around the stage for the higher energy tracks, but slowing down and swaying for the slower, somber songs. 

Beyond the performance itself, one of my favorite aspects of the concert was the stage design and lighting. The stage was draped in towering white sheets with color-changing spotlights lining the perimeters of the sheets. The color of these lights was controlled by a comically large button on a wire, which was handed to a fan named Emily for a couple of songs due to the lighting director “Having IBS or something.”

The coolest part of the set was shown during the last few songs, where a handheld black and white camera recorded & projected everything it recorded onto the large sheets. This camera got close-ups of Del Water Gap, the audience, and more, which was super cool and essentially placed the fans on stage with the band. Since Del Water Gap’s Instagram page is mainly in black and white, the choice to project the camera in greyscale made perfect sense.

One of my favorite parts of the night was during “Damn,” where Del Water Gap simultaneously performed the track while operating a sewing machine that was wheeled out onto the stage. I couldn’t tell if he was truly sewing the embroidery onto the black fabric or if it was already there to begin with, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Once the song was over, he showed off the embroidery to the audience to roaring applause, then tossed it into the pit for a lucky fan to catch. I regret to inform I was only inches away from catching it, but was blocked by a six-foot-something man standing next to me.

To close out the show, Del Water Gap went down into the pit to perform “Perfume” immediately after finishing “Damn.” Part of me wishes I were closer to the center of the pit rather than off to the side so I could’ve been closer to the small opening he was standing in, but I had a great view nonetheless.

While the bridge was being built up, a fan handed Del Water Gap a bedazzled cowboy hat with “DWG” written on the front. As the song wrapped up, Del Water Gap returned to the stage with the cowboy hat in hand.

The final song played was “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat,” his most popular track, released in 2021 on his self-titled album “Del Water Gap.” This high-energy, memorable song was the perfect way to wrap up both the night and the North American tour itself. Once Del Water Gap is done with the rest of his world tour, I would love to catch him again next time he’s in Connecticut.