Love Me, Love Me Not: gnash Blooms in Dallas

gnash brought “The Garden Tour,” a run celebrating 10 years of his four albums u, me, us, and we, to House of Blues Dallas on Sept. 15, and the Cambridge Room turned into an intimate garden for the night. People were buzzing and you could feel how long they’d waited for this. After more than seven years without a headlining tour, the anticipation in the room was at an all-time high.

Brake opened the night in a red bandana and flannel and his energy was a great way to kick off the show. He had the crowd on his side quickly, and his ukulele playing and shirtless big finish won over anyone who hadn’t already come around. It was a short set, but a very fun one. Mark Diamond followed with an acoustic set and his storytelling lyrical style was a perfect fit for the garden tour. Both openers had fans in the room cheering them on, which made for a warm lead-in to gnash.

gnash made an entrance that matched the theme. A moon glowed on the backdrop as he wandered out into his garden with a watering can, tending to the plants during “u don’t get me.” His white jumpsuit was covered in real red roses, and he finished the look with yellow gardening gloves, sunglasses, and a blue LA hat. Then he kicked off the night with “imagine if,” which got the crowd engaged right away. Throughout the show, fans waved their hands, danced, exchanged flowers and friendship bracelets, and sang along to every song.

From there, gnash played “sometimes love means letting go,” a newer single released this year, and then went straight back to celebrating his older discography with songs like “u only call me when it’s raining out,” “feelings fade,” and “tell me it’s okay.”

One of the night’s standout moments came with his cover of blink-182’s “I Miss You,” which led straight into a game of “love me, love me not.” gnash plucked a red rose from his outfit and pulled its petals to decide what came next: land on “love me” and he plays a happy song, land on “love me not” and it’s a sad one. Dallas landed on “love me,” so we got a surprise performance of “lights down low.”

From there, gnash moved into the unreleased “autopilot,” then went off script with a short a cappella moment of “lil tokyo (disposable).” People in the crowd impressively kept up and sang every lyric. The night then slowed down for a reflective stretch, with gnash settling onto a park bench in front of his DJ for “dear insecurity” and “the broken hearts club.” The energy came right back up with “i hate u, i love u,” which was unsurprisingly the loudest moment of the night. “t-shirt” kept it going, with the full crowd waving their arms and singing along.

No one in the room, gnash included, seemed to want the night to end, so at the crowd’s request he played a few extra songs to close the night out, including “ilusm” and “fuck me up.” As a deeper cut, “fuck me up” was an unexpected pick and its high energy made it a great way to end the night. gnash seemed happy to be back in front of fans after so long and he was open with the crowd all night. The concert was a great celebration of his four albums, with a range of songs from across his discography and a sneak peek into what’s coming next.

Now that we’ve celebrated the songs from his career so far, I’m looking forward to seeing what gnash does next. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more music, and I hope Dallas doesn’t have to wait seven years to see him again.