From laughter to tears, Warren kept the crowd connected!
A multi-generational crowd gathered at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, last night for an evening that blended alternative music with a deeply personal, communal experience as headliner Alex Warren brought his “Finding Family On The Road” tour to town.
NAT & ALEX WOLFF
Openers Nat & Alex Wolff started the night by showcasing a mature musical style. They first captured the public eye in 2007 as the stars of Nickelodeon’s “The Naked Brothers Band,” a TV series fueled by music the brothers wrote. After transitioning into respected acting careers, they never abandoned their fraternal musical bond. Over the last decade, they shed their early teen-pop sound to become sophisticated indie-pop musicians, culminating in their self-titled album. Their current sound relies on an organic, unpolished feel, leaning into close vocal harmonies, moody synths, and raw guitar textures that sound like music made for long, late-night drives.
The brothers started their set with “Tough,” with Alex on electric guitar and Nat jumping around the stage without an instrument, quickly setting a lively pace. The dynamic changed beautifully as Alex moved to the piano and Nat picked up an acoustic guitar, giving the arena a warm, comforting atmosphere. Beneath the acoustic core, electronic keys played in the background to mimic a full horn section. Introducing “If You Never Left Me,” Alex asked the crowd for their best dance moves, playfully dedicating the track to his therapist, who helped him get through a breakup. Despite the slower pacing of the songs, their constant energy and dramatic lighting kept the audience’s attention.
They brought back nostalgic childhood memories towards the end of their set, where Nat told the crowd he wrote “Crazy Car” at age seven and sang it when he was eight. The brothers played a remixed version of the track before placing the guitar flat on the floor so both of them could play it together under flashing stage lights. Another great highlight of their set came with the Billie Eilish-produced “Soft Kissing Hour.” Standing at the end of the catwalk, they asked everyone to put their phone lights up, creating a striking moment for a very slow song that carries a lot of depth. The stripped-back performance highlighted Nat’s soft vocals against Alex’s acoustic strumming. After getting every section of the arena screaming, they dedicated a heart-wrenching song, “All My Plans (Shake)” to their dad, who was diagnosed with cancer but is now doing well. They offered the song as a comfort for anyone who has lost a loved one, and Nat walked along the barricade to connect directly with fans before closing out with “Glue.” It was a wonderful end to their last day on tour.
ALEX WARREN
FINDING FAMILY ON THE ROAD WORLD TOUR
Social media star turned household name musician Alex Warren took the stage next.
Warren’s rise to global pop stardom is a powerful story of resilience. Initially finding widespread fame in 2019 as a digital creator and co-founder of TikTok’s “The Hype House,” music was always his true emotional outlet. Signing with Atlantic Records, he channeled his childhood trauma, losing his father to cancer at age nine, being kicked out of his home at 17, and facing homelessness, into unique folk-pop melodies. Heavily inspired by grand arrangement styles and contemporary folk, Warren achieved a major global breakthrough with his chart-topping hit “Ordinary” and his debut album “You’ll Be Alright, Kid.” Because he is incredibly relatable and talks to many people in the crowd, he establishes an immediate connection with his fans, which is refreshing to see.
His headlining set began with old home movies flickering across a giant curtain before it lifted up above him to reveal Warren amid a burst of fireworks. He immediately launched into the rhythm of “Bloodline,” backed by a brilliant live band that featured a live strings section under orange and blue lighting. Throughout his set, tears were flowing from the crowd as he truly knows how to pull on heartstrings. Warren spent the night honoring his parents, singing at the top of his lungs while telling the crowd he belts so loudly in hopes that his parents can hear him in heaven. Just as a song was starting, that emotion took a hilarious turn when he realized he forgot to put on deodorant. He had the band stop playing until he was done applying it right on stage, cracking jokes that turned the arena into a comfortable, casual space.
Hook ’Em Horns and Heartfelt Moments!
He poked fun at the crowd’s demographics, shouting out the high number of kids and demanding a “woo” from the guys, noting the abundance of Texas cowboys, and yelling “Hook ’em horns” and “Go Spurs go.” He even spotted two fans in the pit dressed as Pitbull, pausing to ask what inspired the look and laughing when one admitted she didn’t even live in the city, thanking “Pitbull Square” for coming out. The production design perfectly matched the emotional weight of the set, featuring heavy curtains hanging from the ceiling that moved in waves during “First Time on Earth” as Warren strummed his guitar.
Despite revealing he woke up incredibly sick that morning, his vocal strength never wavered, and there were no backtracks used. The crowd stood up, clapped, and sang along at maximum volume during “Before You Leave Me,” before he slowed things down for “You’ll Be Alright, Kid,” a devastating piano-and-strings ballad that hit everyone right in the chest. Warren treated fans to an unreleased track dropping next week, before showcasing a guitar hand-painted by his wife, using a video in the background of her painting it, and then an illustration that came to life on the screens as he migrated to the B-stage.
Stripping the show down to its most intimate core, he spoke openly about how his parents passed, how it affected him at such a young age, and declared his shows a safe space for everyone to cry, delivering a stunning performance of “Eternity” that left many in the crowd weeping again, including me.
An Emotional Journey to Ordinary
He followed with the unreleased ballad “Same Stars” and a stunning piano-led performance of “Fine Place to Die,” a song written to profess his love to his wife. He picked the pace back up with “Getaway Car” and an arena-wide sing-along of “Carry You Home.” The emotional dam broke entirely during “Save You a Seat,” as dozens of personal home videos of Warren and his late father filled the screens. Seeing a video of himself and his dad brought Warren himself to tears on stage, before he ultimately ended the incredible night with a triumphant performance of “Ordinary.”
As fans slowly filtered out of Moody Center, many were still wiping away tears, replaying favorite moments, and talking about the stories Warren shared between songs. What stood out most was how personal the evening felt. Despite performing in front of thousands of people, Alex Warren somehow made the arena feel intimate, like a conversation among friends rather than a traditional concert.
His ability to balance heartbreak, humor, gratitude, and hope kept the audience invested from beginning to end. One minute people were laughing at an unexpected deodorant break, and the next they were singing through tears during songs about loss, family, and love.
That emotional honesty is what continues to draw people to Warren’s music. The songs matter, but so does the person behind them. In Austin, he gave fans both. By the time “Ordinary” closed the night, it was clear the crowd wasn’t just leaving with memories of a concert. They were leaving feeling understood.
