On a warm summer night in Vienna, Virginia, Wolf Trap was filled to capacity — both lawn and pavilion brimming with joyful fans of all ages. Young families, grandparents, couples on date nights, and groups of friends gathered under the stars to witness something extraordinary: Jacob Collier live in concert. And what unfolded was far more than a performance. It was a transformative musical experience — a kaleidoscopic journey of sound, spirit, and connection that defied genre and expectation.

But first, the evening on August 5 kicked off with a raucous contemporary rock original from Sammy Rae & The Friends, who hail from Brooklyn NY. The seven musicians are all skilled at many different styles of music, from pop to rock, R&B to jazz, many of them multi-instrumentalists. The lead singer, Sammy Rae, explained that their songs focus on a positive message, songs about being your authentic self. On the song “We Made Itâ€, she sings of people having different ideas about what it means to make it: a mother of three who goes to school part-time and is good with her money feels that she has made it. She spoke of people telling her that she hasn’t “made it†until she gets a big record deal. But that’s not how they feel. Their first full-length album, Songs I Wish We Wrote, was independently produced. It contains some of their favorite songs by other artists, such as Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Outâ€, the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Babyâ€, and others that they didn’t perform this night like Chicago, Paul McCartney. They put their own stamp on each song to bring out something completely new that the listener may not have heard in the song before. They say a well-written song survives through the decades, and they have proven that with their fresh take on these classics. Of the originals they performed, “Good Lifeâ€Â gave each of the band members a chance to really shine, including the two amazing saxophone players. They closed with “Coming Home Songâ€. She recommended that if you do nothing else, you should listen to the song again and, as the song says, “learn from the things that you’ve done wrong, leave a light on for yourself.â€

When the lights started coming up on stage for the main act, we were treated to a stage that seemed to be designed for the atmosphere of Wolf Trap – the back of the stage was lined with six beautifully lit trees, and the lighting effects that were placed throughout the stage slowly came to life before Jacob Collier burst onto the stage with enough energy to light up the entire theater.  With his very first song, he got the audience singing with him to “100000 Voices†– the title references what he is most known for: getting audiences to join him in co-creating magic.

Whether he was playing guitar, piano, synthesizer, or percussion, Jacob never failed to awe. His songs are “WELLLâ€-known to his most diehard fans, but also easily learned by those of us who were seeing him for the first time. He is also a generous musician in that he shares the spotlight with his two female lead singers, excellent musicians themselves being featured on keyboards and percussion. When he moved to the acoustic guitar for one of his most beloved songs, “Little Blueâ€, he had everyone swaying in their seats and singing the chorus with him. He slips easily from instrument to instrument, sometimes mid-song, then slipping easily from one song to the next.

He has arranged his songs to provide maximum chill-factor—the tight vocal harmonies are often reminiscent of Manhattan Transfer; as he played percussion, it was as if he was having a conversation with the drummer; and on “Mi Corazónâ€, he turned to the inside of the piano to provide percussion, as well as splitting the audience into three sections for even more hand and vocal percussion.

And he isn’t just a piano player who plays guitar. His breathtaking command of the 12-string guitar on “The Sun is in Your Eyesâ€Â proves that he doesn’t simply dabble. He made his way to the synthesizer for what sounded like a vocal improvisation but soon became “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with Youâ€, much to the delight of those assembled. Every song felt worthy of a standing ovation, yet there was barely time to breathe as he went from one extraordinary piece to another. Even in songs with quick, complex patter like “All I Needâ€, there was a chorus for everyone to sing along with.

He took a break as he neared the end of the concert to sit and have a talk with the audience. He shared a little about how he got started as a “wee one†in London, but even more so his philosophy of the place of music in the world. “Music softens us. … we listen to music and suddenly … our edges sort of soften and we become more malleable, we become more awake to the sensory information that surrounds us, and to each other.â€

We were then treated to a peaceful jazz rendering on “Fly Me to the Moonâ€Â where he showed off even more of his prowess at the piano. This melded into “Witness Me“ and his signature, turning the audience into the Wolf Trap Choir. He led us through some of the very same complex harmonies that he had been dazzling us with all night, amazingly keeping everyone enraptured and co-creating together.

He closed out the concert with favorites “Over Youâ€, “ Box of Stars Pt.1,â€Â and at the demand of the audience for just one more, Queen’s “Somebody to Loveâ€.

No matter how complex or seemingly unattainable the harmonies and polyrhythms were throughout the night, at the end of it all, we all felt like we could be, and were, a part of his performance.

At Wolf Trap, Collier didn’t simply take the stage — he built a world. For a few unforgettable hours, the audience became a choir, a community, and a vessel for something much bigger than the sum of its parts: a boundary-pushing, heart-expanding, joy-inducing triumph.

Jacob Collier, with opening act Sammy Rae & The Friends
Wolf Trap Filene Center, August 5, 2025