Show Review: Snail Mail Brings The Valentine Tour To Fort Collins

Nestled in the heart of Fort Collins lies The Aggie Theater. A 100+ year old venue that has been graced by countless national big name touring artists. Being an hour north of the Denver metro area it always feels extra special when artist book shows in this craft beer producing college town.

Following their massive tour last year with Turnstile, it was a pleasant and unexpected surprise to see that Snail Mail were making a stop on their Valentine Tour in Northern Colorado. Supported by Virgina rockers Dazy and Snail Mail’s Matador Records label-mates Water From Your Eyes, the Valentine Tour arrived in Fort Collins for the third night of the tour.

Dazy is the fun-rocking brain child of James Goodson, who has been making a buzz for himself with the release of 2022’s OUTOFBODY and the subsequent OTHERBODY. Joined by three other talented musicians Dazy’s opening performance was nothing short of fun, the energetic and fuzzy guitar riffs reminiscent of early 2000s pop-rock hits well received by the many first time listeners filling the venue.

Water From Your Eyes brought a contrast to the straight forward rock that Dazy kicked the night off with. With sharp contrasting sonic textures plastered with the droning singing of Rachel Brown and the spastic guitar blasting of Nate Amos, Water From Your Eyes were entrancing.

Snail Mail arrived to stage, the crowd screaming in excitement as Lindsey Jorden pulled her guitar over her shoulders before the band cut into Heat Wave. The early tour jitters apparent as Lindsey fumbled through a couple goof-ups and joked about familiarizing herself with her new guitar pedal board.

It was more than easy for the crowd to smile off the few earnest mistakes as Lindsey’s charisma and goofball energy defused any awkwardness in the situation. The crowd only feeling closer to her with these human moments and her fun connective crowd engagement. All and all these few mistakes nothing than brief lapse between her signature guitar shredding and sincere heart-felt lyrics.

The performance continued light-hearted and joyfully, a great balance to the passionate and deeply sensitive songs that Snail Mail brings to the world. The setlist was a perfect balance of older songs and new hits from Valentine, all of which putting on display Jordan’s amazing guitar work that can be more appreciated in person as you watch her masterfully cruise up and down the frets.

Lindsey’s onstage presence maintained engaging as she questioned the crowd about Fort Collins, as it was the bands first time performing there. Stating that she likes the town and she could maybe see herself there. Fort Collins was the first of two nights for Snail Mail in Colorado (The following night they arrived in Boulder for a performance at the Fox Theater) as they trekked toward southern California for a performance at the first weekend of Coachella.

In line with the fresh trend of artists choosing to stay on stage with a “You already knew we were going to do an encore, so here’s those songs without the silly act of walking back stage for 30 seconds”. To kick off the pseudo-encore, Lindsey grabbed her acoustic guitar and a stool for the most striped down performance of the night with the acoustic ballad ‘Mia’. The perfect song to exemplify her amazing vocal talents.

The night ended energetically as the full Snail Mail band returned to stage and played through ‘Dirt’, ‘Slug’ and topped it all off with ‘Pristine’. Each song performed just as energetic and fun as every song prior, the crowd singing word for word along with Lindsey.

With their amazing performance it was a wonderful privilege to catch Snail Mail at the Aggie.

Be sure not to miss Snail Mail as The Valentine tour continues across the US before wrapping up in Atlanta on May 7th.