New Faces, Old Favorites: Arden Jones Opens for Passion Pit in Philly
Who is Arden Jones?
I watch as a mother shows her daughter and husband Wikipedia’s page for Arden Jones while waiting for him to open for Passion Pit at The Fillmore in Philly on July 26, 2026. I thought it was funny because while this is their first time hearing Arden Jones, I discovered him last year as he was teasing the release of his hit song that I’ll be talking about soon.
I personally like to stand by the soundbooth at concerts because I prefer to have a full visual of the entire stage and get a setlist at the end of the concert. I was able to notice how the audience reacted and interacted with Arden’s set. At the beginning, the crowd was mainly pushed up to the front as there was a lot of space to move around in the back.
As more people joined the floor and vibed to Arden’s set, I noticed a few people singing and dancing along as they too knew who Arden Jones was. Looking up at how big the balcony area at The Fillmore was, it was getting filled throughout Arden’s performance, with people joining the fun and moving along to his music.
Arden talked about his love for the city of Philly and how he loves coming to visit. As someone who is from New Jersey, I don’t give that much love to the city of Philly, but I do appreciate Philly for giving the Philly cheesesteaks. But I do agree with Arden that visiting Philly is always fun as there are lots of things to do.
I think what got the crowd even more hyped for Passion Pit was when Arden did a cover of Phoenix’s 1901. The crowd was roaring and vibing with their hands up in the air. It was incredibly electrifying and had the audience pumped due to familiarity. I was singing along to every song he performed as I listened to his discography on my own time.
He sang his older songs that ranged from the EPs age tapes 0 through 16 and Smile that he had prior to those songs. I was expecting him to sing “Young Dumb” which is a song he released back in 2023 which unfortunately he didn’t sing, along with "In The Middle" which I think the crowd would’ve loved hearing.
Arden sang a new song that he released on August 6th called “Give and Take” which he has been teasing on the internet. I was really glad I got to hear this song live because it hasn’t dropped yet and I really like the tune and vibe of the song. If you enjoy his music, you’ll definitely like this one too.
Though Arden was only opening and his set was short- it still felt he was headlining. His last song, “Someone New” which came out last December 11, 2025 became a hit song over the internet.
I would consider this to be his breakout song. He had been teasing the song across social media which had been gaining attention for the past few days before dropping the song. Arden would play the song in the car with his friends and they would all sing along. This gained more attention overnight and blew up each time he posted singing his song.
To me, the song brings fast paced high nostalgic vibes. It’s nothing but a song you want to listen to when you’re just feeling the absolute best, or just driving in the car and want to sing or scream out loud with the windows down, or just a song you want to enjoy with the best company. It easily reached my On Repeat playlist on Spotify. I would always end up adding “Someone New” to songs I would recommend to friends whenever they would ask for song recs, as I believe it's a song that anyone can easily enjoy.
As “Someone New” became popular and known by the second, many music enjoyers and social media users had discovered the song in which they’d use the audio in their videos. This further gained attention from The Chainsmokers in which they brought out Arden to sing the song at their live college campus performances at Indiana University and Boston College. A month later, The Chainsmokers yet again introduced Arden and he performed “Someone New” at EDC, the largest edm festival in the country.
With “Someone New” blowing up, Arden Jones released “Deadlove” in February 2026 which also has the same electric upbeat as “Someone New” and due to the success of “Someone New” there are two more versions: “think you’re someone new” with Ian Asher, and “someone new-distant matter remix” as a result.
And as Arden sang his hit song, the crowd packed the floor, hands in the air, dancing, and singing a long- it was just incredibly radiating to see. As he leaves the now hyped and ready for Passion Pit audience, I spotted a few people save his song.
As someone who likes to collect setlists after concerts, I wasn’t able to get an Arden Jones setlist, but a Passion Pit one. Yet- it was pretty funny that Arden was happy to sign for me after the concert. My friends and I were able to chat with him for some time. We mentioned how we ran into Arden the previous day while running errands in New York City while he was having an early dinner before his Pier 17 show. We asked if he’ll be headlining shows in the future to which he gave a rough timeline of when he would, which brings more anticipation for new music.
Arden Jones is incredibly down to earth, a funny and genuine guy to chat with. I’m really excited for what Arden has in store and will always be keeping up with him.
Passion Pit has been iconic for their indie, electro, and synth-pop music. They truly peaked during the early 2010s internet culture. It rose to popularity back in 2008 with the release of “Sleepyhead” back on MySpace. From there, their audience only grew even more. Another competing app, Tumblr had also been attracting a large community where Passion Pit had also been expanding their work on.
For their The Pretty Penny Tour, Passion Pit did a summer tour which was only fitting to their upbeat-alternative dance music. They performed their hit songs from their albums: Manners and Gossamer, touching on Kindred and some new work.
The audience had a blast singing and dancing to their music. It felt incredibly nostalgic, I can tell that good memories were coming back to those who were having an absolutely amazing time. Hands were up in the air as Passion Pit performed “Talk a Walk”, cheers all around as “Carried Away” and “Little Secrets” were played. I was in absolute awe watching the frontman Michael Angelakos, mixing the beat for “Constant Conversations”, my personal favorite song off of Gossamer. It was just one superb throwback song right after the other.
I will say, I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about Passion Pit’s performances in the past. I would consider that Passion Pit obviously isn’t going to sound the same way they used to back in 2008 and audiences can’t expect them to. I think that it’s still an amazing experience to hear their music live especially since they’re still going on tours and releasing new music.
I was a bit sad that they didn’t perform “Lifted Up (1985)” from Kindred- since I really liked that song off of the album. I was also bummed that “Where I Come From” wasn’t played either. It’s my personal favorite Passion Pit song. It was a part of Twilight’s Breaking Dawn-Part 2 's soundtrack when it was released back in 2012. "Where I Come From" was in the very first scene of the movie when Bella wakes up as a vampire. I was surprised that it wasn’t on the setlist as it is a popular Passion Pit song.
To bring back Passion Pit’s beginnings when they first began, they performed “Sleepyhead” towards the end of their set and the crowd went insane. I was so excited to sing and dance around to the song. It was an experience I won’t forget.
As the concert ended, fans taking a moment to bring themselves back to reality, I’m glad I get to walk away being able to go home with a setlist, fun memories with my friends, and parts of songs I was able to record on my phone to last me a while until Passion Pit tours again.
Written By: Rory Perez
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