When a theater kid goes into the entertainment industry, they sure do know how to have a stage presence. Despite his Stranger Things notoriety, Joe Keery’s music project, DJO, captivates with a similar genre-bending excitement as he electrified the Fox Theater during the latest stop on his Back On You tour.
Post Animal, the Chicago psych-rock band Keery once played with, opened the night, making their presence feel like a homecoming of sorts. Their guitar-driven-but-also-head-banging set warmed the room and added a nice edge to the art-deco designed venue. Post Animal teased an unreleased song, “Started With,” that carried high-energy and groove that was easily danceable. The band’s performance felt less like a separate set, but more of a 45 minute prelude to DJO: an ode and celebration of his Chicagan roots. Setting up what’s to come in the night with the band that started it all, Keery popped up before his headlining performance to assist on guitar during Post Animal’s hit “When I Get Home.”
The audience at the Fox Theater reflected a broad reach of millennials, Gen Z, and even some older fans who swayed side-by-side under swirling lights and bubbles. Yes, bubbles. I had the fortunate opportunity to view the crowd from all around the venue. Entering beyond the barricade into the photo pit I got to see the giddy excitement of the girls who held up various signs declaring their admiration for DJO. Behind them stood the just-as-excited but “trying to play it cool” SF hipsters quaking in their Timberlands.
Knowing Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, or DJO as “that guy with the viral TikTok song,” doesn’t seem to deter his attitude toward music. If anything, it fuels it. Each song in his setlist was not repetitive, and I was surprised at the ease he blended his 2019 hit “Roddy,” with his new song “Gap Tooth Smile,” a genre-bending compilation of pop with a dash of country rock. His care for his music emphasizes that this is not just a side project to him in between acting. Whether it was time to talk to the crowd while he changed the tuning of his guitar, or letting the band jam out together in dazzling outros, DJO carried an effortless confidence that helped him transition between each song with care and grace.
Though his previous albums Twenty Twenty (2019) and Decide (2022) are amazing synth-heavy and electric works, the rest of the set pulled heavily from The Crux, an album that leans harder into psychedelic textures than his earlier work. “Basic Being Basic” stood out as a sharp, satirical look at influencer culture, wrapped in glam-rock riffs and falsetto harmonies. “Gloom” and “Climax” leaned more experimental, filled with distorted vocals and layered synths that pulsed through the theater like a dream you weren’t quite ready to wake from. The visuals behind the band—a mix of VHS-style footage, abstract animations, and colorful strobes—added to the trippy, immersive feel without overwhelming the performance.
His raw, open lyrics paired with experimental, syncopated beats create a soundscape that refuses to “cooperate” with mainstream formulas. Instead, DJO’s music leans into authenticity, into weirdness, into something unfiltered. The success—like a sold-out show at the Fox Theater—is organically followed. It comes as no surprise that tracks like “Roddy,” “Chateau (Feel Alright),” “Charlie’s Garden,” and, of course, “End of Beginning,” have quietly become generational classics.
Review by Molly Ho, photography by Izzy Hory
