Djo and Post Animal Join Forces on The Back On You Tour, Brings the Intimacy in Toronto

Like a gift that keeps on giving, Djo’s Back On You tour stop in Toronto was as exhilarating and zestful as the album that prompted its run. To be fair, Joe Keery’s The Crux is all I have been listening to every single day since its release, so I had some personal stakes at expecting this to be a great show, but Keery’s natural confidence on the stage, with his effervescent if not goofy personality, made for a night to remember.

There is nothing more heartwarming and inspiring to me than seeing an artist who seems to truly, genuinely love the music they get to play live, and it feels like Joe’s sole wish each night is to have a good time. Although I understand his mild reluctance to embrace his actor celebrity when he first became “Djo” (it was never truly a secret in my world, but I have come to learn a lot of people were unaware of who he was until this or last year) I believe that dropping the wig and the sunglasses to conceal his identity, granted him a new form of comfort, and a broader space to explore as an artist and performer. As himself, he’s now allowed to show more of personality while performing, to engage more personally with the crowd, and to just be a 33-year-old guy playing songs with his buddies.

Joined by college friends—and even Stranger Things’ co-star Finn Wolfhard at one point of the night—Djo’s show at the 2,500-person capacity venue in Toronto still felt like a jam session in someone’s basement. This thanks to the fact that Post Animal’s opening set works as an evident expansion of Joe’s artistry (I guess this goes without saying considering he literally came on stage to perform a few songs with them and he is part of their upcoming album Iron), and the evident closeness between everyone on stage. Everyone that touched the stage fit like a piece to a puzzle in one way or another.

As Djo’s song “Back On You” touches on, he keeps his loved ones close, he’s impossibly aware and grateful for the way they all have gone through life with him, grown up with him, and naturally become a part of him. Perfectly summarizing the importance of the people on stage with him, when he finished introducing each one of them Joe said: “And we are Djo”. The Back On You tour is a love letter to them, a thank you, a celebration to the years of friendship, and an open invitation to anyone else who might want to witness all the love.