Hiatus Kaiyote concludes North American tour at Oakland’s Fox Theater

The Saturday night of July 20th marked the grand finale of Hiatus Kaiyote’s North American Tour at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, this independent band is a master at blending diverse genres — like jazz, R&B, funk, and soul — into something truly magical. 

The show started with Xinxin, a quartet from southern California known for their jazz fusion influence.

The band — comprised of Janize Ablaza (vocals, guitar), Stephen Reed (drums), Carlos Elias (bass), and Jonah Huang (keyboards) — showcased their individual talents through melodic solos that had the crowd hyped. Janize invited the audience to take a collective deep breath during the set, resetting intentions for the evening. Their performance was phenomenal, including the song “Feeling Dumb” and even a cover of “Weak” by SWV!

It was then time for the main attraction, Hiatus Kaiyote, aka the glorious combination of drummer Perrin Moss, bassist Paul Bender, keyboardist Simon Mavin, and (last, but certainly not least) lead singer and guitarist Nai Palm. The way Palm commands the stage is mesmerizing and the crowd was loving it! They opened their Oakland set with the first track of their new album, “Dreamboat”. The calming, yet dynamic harmonies started the performance off right, with Palm’s vocals coming across so effortless.

Next was “And We Go Gentle”, “Rose Water”, another new song “Telescope”, and “Get Sun”. Around this time, Palm encouraged the crowd to get to know each other, as she had learned from touring that the group’s fans were “such nice people”; the band then launched into another new hit called “Make Friends”. Hearing the crowd sing along with her created the most positive atmosphere. It was beautiful how diverse the audience was… full of different ethnicities and people of all various ages. Hiatus Kaiyote’s music is certainly unifying around the world. 

The night went on with songs “Love Heart Cheat Code”, “Long Cat”, “Molasses”, “Cinnamon Temple”, “Dimitri”, “Sip into Something Soft”, and “All the Words We Don’t Say”, but once they began “Red Room”, the lighting throughout the whole theater went RED.

It made you feel like you were experiencing a warm sunset.

Then, the story of “Swamp Thing” was the show’s end… or so we thought! The crowd couldn’t get enough! Everyone was screaming, clapping, and stomping in unison to get the band back out for just “one more song”! 

To profound applause, the band returned to perform “Stone or Lavender”, leaving some in tears from how moving it was. Their very last song of the night went out to their “day-oners” — “The Lung”. Needless to say, the show was fantastic and I can’t wait until next time!

Photography by Sara Taylor; recap by Lyndee Taylor

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