Sweet Pill and the Nile go way back. Frontwoman Zayna Youssef gave us a little Sweet Pill x Nile history lesson halfway through the band’s Tuesday night set. Their first show here was in 2022, opening for none other than La Dispute (on her birthday, no less). They came back and played the Nile Underground twice after that, in 2023 and 2024. Tuesday night, they finally landed the coveted, well-earned main stage headlining slot, and hearing that whole story on the spot earned instant respect from everyone in the room who wasn’t already caught up on Sweet Pill’s Arizona rise. After that moment, every note hit with a little more reverence. This band looked stupid happy to be up there, and said so more than once.
From the jump, the set was controlled chaos in the best way. Pits opening up and spreading like wildfire, never really dying down. The band playing every note with their whole body, and Zayna’s facial expressions doing just as much of the performance as her voice. In typical Nile fashion, a consistent stream of bodies climbing on stage to hurl themselves back into the crowd. Mid song, Youssef just stopped everything and asked if anyone in the crowd knew the words well enough to finish it. Some brave, possibly delusional volunteer got pulled up, handed a mic, and got to be Sweet Pill’s frontman for thirty seconds. By that point, nobody in that room was just watching anymore. As far as crowd interaction goes, Sweet Pill has it completely locked down.
Dueling jazzmasters flanked the stage as guitarists Jayce Williams and Sean McCall traded riffs from opposite corners, but they couldn’t fight the gravitational pull of one another forever, eventually colliding into a full on embrace, arms wrapped around each other, guitars crossed behind each other’s backs, neither one dropping a single note.
Then there’s the voice of Sweet Pill. Youssef has the stage presence of an emo superstar, spanning from clean and melodic to the trademark rough scream that has come to be Sweet Pill’s most defining sound. She also made sure we all knew she just turned 30, and led every kid and elder emo in the room through a quick calisthenic stretch break. Getting old ain’t for the weak.
The Still There’s a Glow album cover, a burning house getting swallowed by a mouth, was hand-painted by Philly artist Kerry Dunn, and it’s genuinely one of the better album covers out right now. Everything else comes from Youssef, whether she’s making it herself or stepping into her dual role as creative director: shirts, flyers, logos, banners, vinyl layouts, all of it.
Sweet Pill finally headlining the Nile feels less like a finish line and more like a checkpoint. This band seems like it’s about to hit terminal velocity. They’re outgrowing the Nile, respectfully. Next time they’re back in Arizona, don’t be surprised if it’s a much bigger room.
