On Sunday night, Lord Huron frontman Ben Schneider asked the Kia Forum audience, “To the ends of the earth, would you follow me?” The indie folk group transported Los Angeles into a tragic tale straight out of an old Hollywood western for the last night of their five-month North American tour. 

The night began with an opening performance from Canadian artist Feist. After a few songs, Feist spoke to the crowd, combating their cheers of “Let’s go Dodgers” with “Let’s go Blue Jays.”  The singer’s set was a mix of slow, jazzy, energetic and danceable songs to prepare the audience for a similar set from the headliner.

“It’s such a joy to get the call from Lord Huron to come join them for a few shows,” Feist said to the audience at Kia Forum. “This is to put you in a bit of a romantic mood to set you up for the incredible show you’re about to see.” 

The singer then transitioned into the ballad “Let It Die” from her 2004 album of the same name. Feist ended her set with the popular hit, “1234,” and got the crowd to harmonize with her. The result was a bright chorus of voices and buzzing energy. 

Concert-goer Britney Henderson, a sophomore at Chapman University, was most excited to see the band’s visual presentation. After some of her friends attended Lord Huron’s show in another state, she was told the concert was “a whole production.” 

“I had high expectations, just on musicality to begin with,” Henderson said. “But when they’re like, ‘It’s a production,’ I want a story. I want a plot, and I think they’re going to deliver.” 

Eventually, an electric guitar strummed and a jukebox onstage began to glow, eliciting anticipatory cheers from the crowd. Kristen Stewart’s staticky voice opens “Who Laughs Last” with “After three hours at the wheel, I found myself beyond the borders of my experience” as the drumming began. The voiceover proceeded with the drumming as television screens onstage shone brightly, setting the haunting tone of the show.  

Suddenly, Schneider interrupted Stewart’s monologue, singing into a telephone from the phone booth situated toward center stage. The spotlights flashed as he belted “I’m gonna leave that city far behind and get a long, long way from here.” 

In addition to the telephone booth, jukebox and television screens, the set was meticulously crafted to suck the audience into Lord Huron’s surrealist Western world. A piece resembling a mountainous hill sat center stage, a walking path engraved on its surface while a film projector was constantly rolling to its left. Scattered around the stage, the band was illuminated by the ever-changing backdrop of landscapes as they played. 

The next song “Looking Back” slowed things down as only the jukebox remained flickering. A lone spotlight resembling a rising sun slowly ascended the backdrop as a dancer’s moving shadow appeared in its center. The shadow turned smoky and added to the eerie atmosphere as Schneider softly sang, “Spent my whole life looking back and wondering who I was.” 

Lord Huron’s performance both reaffirmed returning fans and proved to newer audiences that their storytelling was nothing short of moving. The male lead dancer, referred to as “Lonesome Wanderer,” was joined by another dancer, “Long Lost Lover,” for various songs throughout the night. The duo’s lyrical performances not only progressed the show’s storyline but also emphasized various emotions of romance and yearning. 

Although the visuals made for a heart-tugging experience, the music was especially special to the audience. Utilizing instruments like a harmonica, a cello and a pedal-steel guitar, Lord Huron had the crowd slowly swaying, whooping and whistling all in the same night. 

Each song played out like scenes from a movie. Pieces like “Ancient Names, Pt. I,” with its desert backdrop, evoked the feeling of a bank heist; others like the popular “Meet Me in the Woods” transported the crowd into a woodland atmosphere complete with on-stage string lights and vines.

The band’s final song before the encore was “The Night We Met” from their album “Strange Trails.” For attendee and California State University, Northridge student Alondra Castillo, it was her most anticipated song. 

“Call me basic, but it’s a tear-jerker,” Castillo said. “It gets me every time.”

Castillo was not the only one as the opening vocals elicited loud, excited cheers throughout the venue. Schneider was aware of the song’s popularity as he faced the microphone toward the audience and listened to the crowd’s harmonizing of “I had all and then most of you / Some and now none of you.” 

The night ended with Schneider delivering a final message to the crowd — “So long. Good luck. Goodbye. Until next time. May you live until you die.” — before playing their final song “Life is Strange.” 

Attendees and sisters Emily Tayo, a longtime fan of the band, and Hannah, a student at River City College, were excited to see the unique set unfold with the music. 

“They always have a story that goes along with it,” Emily Tayo said. “It’s a whole world that draws you in.” 

Both saw Lord Huron last year in San Diego and had high hopes for this concert since the band had previously exceeded expectations.

“It was so good,” said Hannah Tayo. “I was like, ‘Oh, I love their music. It’s gonna be the same live.’ But it’s always better live… It was just so pretty. I was just in awe of it.”