American Football played the venue in Austin’s Mohawk on May 28, 2025, and gave a performance that was half-coming-home salute and half-bitter tear-out for their classic first album, LP1.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of an album that has become a classic of the Midwest emo genre, the group noted that this tour would be its final playing LP1 start-to-finish. The nighttime lighting of the outdoor space, in the midst of Austin’s Red River Cultural District, was a modest and intimate gathering to which the moving words registered with powerful resonance. At night after dusk, the otherworldly illumination and frayed furniture created a reflective as well as celebratory mood.
The setlist was a sharply delineated incursion into LP1, featuring such tracks as “Never Ment,” “The Summer Ends,” and “Stay Home,” all of which were performed with intensity that served to reassert the band’s long-standing grip on its early catalogue. The crowd, a mixture of old die-hards and new converts, was in a communal daydream state, swaying to the interwoven guitar lines that have come to define American Football’s sound. The band’s chemistry was familiar, the delivery crisp but with that kind of vulnerability that only comes with years of shared development as musicians.
This show was more than a run-through of a classic record. It was a witness to the lasting impact of American Football has had on the music world. Their retirement of LP1 from live performance adds an extra feeling of weight and finality to the night, bringing to an end an era for the band and fans. The Mohawk, with its intimate past and vulnerable space, was perfect for this seminal event. As the final notes faded into the Austin night, there was no doubt that this concert would stay with each person in attendance, a testament to the way music, and music as internal and personal as this, tends to bring people together across the decades.
Most impressive was the way unpretentious the night felt. In light of the significance of LP1 and the gravity of the occasion, American Football played with humility, even gangly grace. None of that inflated ego or affective bluster. It felt like a group of friends returning to a language that had once flowed so easily, now tempered and weathered but still emotionally intricate. That humility, combined with the wistfulness of the songs, created a unique experience, something more transcendent than performance. It was not a concert; it was a love letter to a sound that defined a generation of subtle heartbreak and muted hope.
I'm an Austin-based photographer and filmmaker. I'm a mother of two (cats) and I love picking up expensive hobbies to spend all of my money on, whether that be tattoos, vinyl, or concerts. My top three artists are Dijon, Mk.gee, and Dominic Fike. I love to travel and learn new ways to fulfill myself creatively. My biggest aspiration is to find the most imaginative way to seamlessly combine my 3 favorite things: film, photography, and music.
