Straight Up Georgin’ It: Jake Minch @ Velvet Underground
- OCT. 1, 2025
- //
- WRITTEN BY MILENA TALLARICO
Just one month after releasing his debut album, George, indie singer-songwriter Jake Minch hit the road for his first ever headlining tour. George explores the two years Minch spent living out his dreams in Los Angeles while struggling with self-destructive behaviours and lacking the necessary mental health resources to appreciate his opportunities. Having recently gained traction on social media from the album’s lead single, “Fingers and Clothes,” a song about addiction and failures in a relationship, Minch’s act relies on him opening up about his innermost turmoil to the 400-person crowd gathered at the Velvet Underground, all with a sheepish smile and boyish charm.
Minch’s opening act, Hana Bryanne, is a clever girl-next-door, greeting the audience with her song “Jesus Or Harrison Ford,” a folksy tune concerned with the crisis of modern masculinity. Bryanne commonly critiques gendered expectations through her lyrics, singing later in her song “Dollface,” “Maybe could’ve been an actress/If I had just fixed up my teeth,” her crooked front tooth showing as she smiles at a select few audience members who prove their knowledge of her lyricism by singing along, myself included.
After playing a few tracks from her 2023 album, Dollface, Bryanne revealed that, despite the setlist being relatively on-lock throughout the tour, she’d decided right before the show to play some new and unreleased songs for the audience. These glimpses into her backlog ranged from a classic love song (“Pennies”), to a murder ballad (“Journey’s End”), to an ode to the expansiveness of California (“Nowhere, CA”) of which she describes as being inspired by the feeling that “no matter how much you explore California, there’s always a corner you haven’t seen…and love is kind of like that too.” These insights came spilling out of Bryanne, leaving the crowd with a similarly boundless desire to continue onward into her discography, even when her 30 minutes were up.
When Minch and his band took the stage, they lit it with a scattered assortment of lamps rather than utilizing the stage lights, evoking the warmth and familiarity of a living room. No other atmosphere could be more fitting as he divulged into his complex relationships with his family and hometown friends on songs like “Changed Things” and “jessie.” Huddled together in what Minch referred to as one of “Toronto’s two small venues” (the other being The Drake Hotel), the crowd recited lyrics like secrets being shared between old friends. Despite playing predominately stripped-back tracks, Minch managed to break a guitar string right as a fan favourite, “Drawing a Tattoo,” came to an end. Luckily, Bryanne was there from the side of the stage to offer up her guitar which Minch accepted bashfully until his replacement could be located.
The climax of the set was undoubtedly the performance of “Say Uncle,” a track which sonically deviates from the rest of George, being upbeat and fast-paced. The crowd screamed out each chorus while strobe lights flashed behind Minch and the band. Next was the beloved “Fingers and Clothes” which even the siblings, dads, and friends dragged to the show by their loved ones seemed to know the words to. The grand finale—and my most highly anticipated performance of the night—was “For Leaving,” a song which begins softly and explodes at the bridge with a stream of admissions from Minch about his vain desire for a long-term relationship, and its inevitable ruin. The song ends, “I wanted to be better so bad/I just don't think I'm that man,” then Minch and the band ripped an extended outro for the live performance.
Cheering resounded throughout the venue while the stage cleared out, though it was hardly a minute before Minch returned to the stage solo for the encore. He revealed that he had three songs left to perform, though a quick peer at the setlist on the stage floor revealed only two titles yet to be played, “strip mall” and “handgun,” both from his 2023 EP, how many. Clearly a surprise was in store. Between these two songs, Minch announced that he would be performing an unreleased track for its very first time. Struggling to find the words to describe what it was about, he mumbled something about “older men.” Strumming his acoustic guitar, Minch laid himself bare on this vulnerable number that followed him from the corner of a city street, to a gay bar, and then home with a lobbyist. He ended with the haunting reflection, “Never decide if you want another bite/With the last one still in your mouth/I keep trying to spit you out/I am tired of binging.”
Minch delivered a performance raw with honesty to the extent that it felt almost invasive to watch him sing about his life so intimately. Nonetheless, it appeared that this very quality is what drew such a kinship between him and his audience. After witnessing this magnetism myself, I have no doubt that Minch has a bright career ahead of him and I can’t wait to hear what he puts out next.