After a 3 year hiatus, Joji is back with a vulnerable and immersive summer experience on stage with his Solaris World tour. We caught the first night of his two LA stops on Saturday July 11th at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
For this show, we got to experience the Club Seats for the first time. Before the show even started, the exclusive lounge gave fans a chance to settle in, chat with fellow concertgoers, and build excitement together. Having a dedicated spot to grab drinks and snacks to bring directly back to our seats was a huge perk. Every section also came with its own private restroom, so no marathon bathroom lines, no stress about missing a song, and enough space to actually touch up your makeup before the lights went down. It elevated the entire night without taking away from the communal concert experience.
Joji’s openers couldn’t have been more different, but that’s exactly why they worked. Corbin eased everyone into the evening with his soulful vocals. His set carried an intimacy that leaned into themes of heartbreak and longing that naturally complemented Joji’s catalog. Rather than trying to hype the crowd, Corbin set an emotional foundation for what was to come. Then came Nate Sib, who completely flipped the energy. Nate Sib delivered a rush of glossy synths and dance-heavy production that instantly transported the arena back to the early 2010s. Despite the tempo shift, it fit surprisingly well alongside Joji’s genre-blurring sound. Both artists thrive in music born from internet culture, like Joji through bedroom pop, lo-fi, and trip-hop influences, and Nate Sib through shimmering hyperpop and dance production. The transition between the two openers made the night’s emotional highs and lows feel even more dynamic.
Longtime Joji fans may have noticed something different about the SOLARIS Tour. Gone were many of the chaotic comedic bits and extended audience banter that characterized earlier tours. Instead, this performance leaned almost entirely into atmosphere. The pacing was intentional, the visuals cinematic, and the transitions between songs carefully orchestrated through interludes rather than conversation. Fans have noted that this tour feels like Joji fully embracing the emotional identity of his music rather than balancing it with meme-era humor that gives songs like “Glimpse of Us,” “Like You Do,” and “LOVE YOU LESS” even greater emotional weight. The setlist itself wove together newer material from Piss In The Wind alongside fan favorites from BALLADS 1, Nectar, SMITHEREENS, and In Tongues.
Not every story needs to be understood to be felt. One of the night’s biggest talking points was the recurring VCR interludes. Throughout the show, bizarre cinematic clips appeared between acts featuring an unnaturally tall white humanoid creature wandering surreal landscapes populated by goats and other unsettling imagery. Although creepy, the creature also somehow became someone to empathize with. It moves through unfamiliar spaces looking simultaneously out of place and strangely accepted, mirroring the emotional distance that runs through Joji’s songwriting. The goats, meanwhile, can symbolize instinct, sacrifice, stubbornness, or even pastoral calm depending on the cultural lens. Juxtaposing such ordinary animals against an uncanny figure creates an unsettling dream logic that feels remarkably similar to Joji’s music, blending beautiful melodies wrapped around emotional discomfort.
The album and tour repeatedly blur the line between humanity and something otherworldly, creating a universe where loneliness isn’t just an emotion but a physical landscape. SOLARIS felt less like a concert and more like stepping into a shared dream, filled with heartbreak, grief, and longing. As Joji closed out with an epic saxophone rendition of “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK,” we were reminded that the feelings that isolate us are often the very ones that connect us most deeply to each other.