Badflower wows a sold-out crowd on This Is How The World Ends tour at Saint Andrew’s Hall with support from Teenage Wrist and Dead Poet Society.
Live music has been back for a few months now and seems to be heating up more and more, and tonight’s show is no exception. By the time the opening band takes the stage, Saint Andrew’s Hall is nearly full to the back of the floor and in the balcony. Dead Poet Society gets the crowd warmed up with “.burymewhole.,” a bluesy song from their latest release -!-. Led by vocalist/guitarist Jack Underkofler, they blend a mix of musical genres including rock, blues, grunge, and even pop. “.intoodeep.” gets the crowd moving with a more upbeat tempo and sound that is similar to Maroon 5.
All but one song in their setlist tonight is from -!- including “.georgia.”, “.SALT”, and the closer “.CoDA.”. “.SALT” is much slower and has a grungy, industrial sound. “.AmericanBlood.” starts slow, but quickly builds into a more straight-ahead rocker with a catchy chorus about keeping your head up. It draws big cheers from the audience. They close out their set with “.CoDA.”, another bluesy rock song that has the whole band rocking hard. The rest of the band is guitarist Jack Collins, bassist Dylan Brenner, and drummer Will Goodroad. Judging from the long line of fans waiting to meet the band at their merch table after their set, they certainly are expanding their base.
Los Angeles-based alternative rock band Teenage Wrist continues the show with a 10-song set that draws from across three of their albums, Chrome Neon Jesus, Counting Flies, and their 2021 release Earth is a Black Hole. They kick it off with “Stoned, Alone” and follow it with “Taste of Gasoline.” The next song “Dweeb” has a driving beat with fuzzy and ringing guitars that pulls the audience in and gets them moving. It is one of the highlights of their set. Another great song in their set is “Wasting Time” which have the crowd bopping and singing along. It is by far their most upbeat song tonight.Several other songs from their latest album make the set including “High Again,” “Yellowbelly,” and “Silverspoon.” They wind it down with the slow, grungy song “Waitress” and finish on a high note with the title track from their latest album that has many singing along. The band is led by singer/guitarist Marshall Gallagher and drummer Anthony Salazar and supported by a touring guitarist and bassist. Marshall makes as much use of the tight stage as best he can, and Anthony is an animal on the drums, smashing them hard and letting his long hair fly about. The fans show their appreciation throughout the set and send them off with loud cheers and applause.
The time has finally arrived as the lights dim and a voice that introduces themselves as Karen comes over the speakers. She teases the fans with a joke and gets them to yell loudly to get the headliner Badflower to play. When they take the stage, the fans erupt and the band launches into “Fukboi” from their brand new album, This is How the World Ends, released on September 24. It is a fast-paced, alt-punk song that has drummer Anthony Sonetti playing at a rapid pace that energizes the crowd. They follow that up with another new song, the single “Don’t Hate Me” that finds bassist Alex Espiritu jumping all over the stage. He is by far the most active musician of all the bands tonight.Their set tonight is loaded with 11 songs from This is How the World Ends including “Johnny Wants to Fight,” “Tethered,” “Sasshole,” “Family,” “Machine Gun,” and “Only Love.” Before playing “Only Love,” lead singer/guitarist Josh Katz says it has been exactly two years to the date since they last played this venue. That gets a great crowd reaction. The crowd is fired up on the next two songs from their 2019 release OK, I’m Sick. After starting out slow, “Heroin” finds the band jamming hard for about a minute. During “The Jester,” Alex drops to his knees while headbanging, and Josh jams on the guitar. Both songs have the fans fully engaged, singing along and waving their arms in the air.
One of the highlights is the new song “Stalker” that has Josh down in the pit playing to the fans up front. The sound is solid and during this song, the lights are top-notch with heavy use of strobes and cool LED squares that progress from large to small. After this song, Josh gets chatty with the crowd and guitarist Joey Morrow starts playing the theme from Jeopardy. That leads to the band outside of Josh starting to play riffs and beats from famous rock songs. Starting with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird,” it has Joey singing it through two whole verses and even throws in some of the guitar soloing from the end of the song. The crowd loves it, but Josh seems a bit annoyed. Keeping it going, they also play some snippets of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and The Scorpions “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” Josh finally gives in and says, “That was really special.”
Following the grooving new tune “Sasshole,” they play “Girlfriend” which gets the crowd bouncing again and singing along, while Joey and Josh jam and Josh once again goes down in the front row playing up to the fans. They close out the main portion of their set with the popular hit “Ghost” that has nearly everyone singing along, waving their arms, and many capturing the moment on their cell phones. It also shows off the awesome lighting again with cool, scrolling lights and strobes. Returning to the stage, Josh starts out solo singing “My Funeral” before the rest of the band joins him. They close out the song with soaring vocals by Josh and the band jamming. Josh tells the crowd, “Thank you so much, guys” before tossing his guitar pick to the crowd and exiting the stage. The fans respond with huge cheers, whistles, and applause.
It was truly a great night of live rock music from three bands on the rise. You can catch them all on tour together through October, plus they will all be at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach in November.
BADFLOWER
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TEENAGE WRIST
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