AJR skips to the good part and delivers an amazing show at Del Mar Fairgrounds
On the night of July 1st, the Del Mar Fairgrounds featured the indie pop band AJR on their 2026 Summer Tour as they took the stage for their highly anticipated Summer Concert Series date for the San Diego County Fair. The open air venue was packed with fans of all ages, highlighting the signature family-friendly environment that the band is well known for. The crowd showed amazing energy and anticipation as they sang through most of the songs chosen as the pre concert setlist, from Hold The Line to Bohemian Rhapsody their fans were ready to have an amazing evening as they waited for the band to play.
The performance was full of crowd interaction and creativity, with AJR proving once again why their live production is completely unique. The duo spent a significant portion of the evening highlighting their fans directly from the stage; they paused to chat with an attendee dressed in a full hot dog costume, and gave a massive shoutout to two fans up in the bleachers who were going absolutely all out while mimicking Ryan’s movement through the stage, as mentioned by him. In another highly memorable tradition, the band explained how they always scan the crowd looking for a specific hat for Ryan to wear on stage which they found on the head of one of the assistants: a gold mad-hatter style hat that caught both Ryan’s and Jack’s attention. Ryan then took the hat and wore it as the crowd roared and cheered, he then proceeded to wear it for a song before returning it to the owner.
The show’s production value kept the crowd fully engaged, especially when the band completely broke the boundaries of the main stage. They surprised the entire venue by performing World’s Smallest Violin and the first half of I’m Not Crazy directly from up in the bleachers, surrounding themselves with ecstatic fans, and even taking a moment to talk to some of them, before making their way back to the main stage to finish the track after a full band introduction. Easily the most innovative segment of the night came right before the finale during Bang!. The duo paused to give the audience a fascinating, behind the scenes breakdown of how the track was originally constructed. They demonstrated how everyday, ordinary sounds and fleeting daily moments from their lives are creatively twisted into musical elements, building the song layer by layer right in front of the crowd. The grand reveal culminated in adding the track’s most recognizable piece, the iconic voice announcer, before seamlessly launching into the full, booming performance of the hit.
The setlist was an amazing selection of hits, all time favorites and a cover they mentioned they had not played on stage for at least ten years, taking the crowd by surprise and having them excitedly sing along to Stacy’s Mom, a song they used to play when they first started playing on the streets of New York. With a setlist curated to include the best of each of their albums AJR delivered lots of emotions and beautiful moments that their fans will always remember. Fans danced and sang along to the following setlist:
- Bummerland
- Way Less Sad
- Karma
- The Big Goodbye
- Yes I’m a Mess
- Stacy’s Mom
- 100 Bad Days
- Joe
- World’s Smallest Violin
- I’m Not Crazy
- Steve’s Going to London
- The Good Part
- Burn the house down
- Bang!
- Weak
To make sure you don’t miss a single beat of their summer journey, upcoming tour dates, or future creative releases, make sure to follow AJR across all of their official social media and music streaming platforms. We wish the band an amazing continuation of their summer run, and from ListenSD, we hope to see their unmatched theatrical live show back on our local stages very soon!
