Walk the Moon Energizes The Sinclair
Julia Steele ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The energy that a band like Walk The Moon brings to a venue is something that borders on magic. After seeing them multiple times, you would think a magic like that would wear off, but no. This band brings it every time with their technicolor lights and rainbow-tinted aura.
Walk The Moon headlined at The Sinclair and they completely wrecked their crowd–in the best way. Not a single person walked out of the venue without a giant smile, sweat everywhere, and sore lungs. The four boys from Ohio bring the heat with every song in their set–even the newer ones that fans haven’t had a chance to hear on their upcoming album yet.
The band opened with one of their bigger hits– “Tightrope” getting the crowd quite literally up and jumping. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca has unparalleled energy as he bounces around the stage while still pumping out quality vocals, keyboards, and the occasional drumbeat. “Tightrope” was followed up by another first album favorite–”Next In Line”–before the band launched into some of their new stuff off of the yet to be released Talking Is Hard.
“Down in the Dumps” and “Spend Your $$$” are both new tunes that kept the crowd entranced despite the fact they many of them had never heard the songs before. This being the second time I saw the band since the recording of their new album, I’d heard “Spend Your $$$” once before, and had forgotten about it until the opening riff kicked in paired with an infectious dance-along beat.
The band set up a pattern of playing a few of their older songs, a few from the new album–alternating back and forth. “Sidekick” one of their new songs, sounds like happiness itself. The beat is contagious and had the whole band dancing along as they played. “Avalanche” another one from the new album with a killer guitar riff that you could picture yourself driving with the windows down in the summertime.
A majority of Walk The Moon’s music is pretty upbeat, with infectious bass lines, catchy melodies, and dance-able synth parts. “Quesadilla” and “Shiver Shiver” do not disappoint in this department. Despite the fact that these are some of the band’s “older” songs (if you can even call them old if the band only formed in late 2008), these two jams never fail to get your blood pumping and the good vibes flowing. “Shiver Shiver,” my personal favorite, is a dance anthem. Even the parents that were dragged along by some of the younger fans could not resist at least bobbing their head or tapping their toes to that one.
With a few more “oldies” and a few more new ones thrown in, the band closed the set with their slower tempo-ed inspiring ballads. “I Can Lift A Car” was introduced by lead singer Petricca leading the crowd in lifting all of the “bullshit and worries” that plague us in our daily lives and getting rid of them. Petricca does this at every show before “I Can Lift A Car” is played, and this time he accompanied it with an “induction” of sorts for all of those who’d never been to a Walk The Moon show before.
The effect of this song is always cathartic, it’s simple yet inspiring lyrics lift weight off of fans, until everyone in the venue is pumping their arms up–lifting cars up all by themselves during the chorus. Lastly was “Anna Sun” the band’s most popular song. An anthem of youth, it ended the show on a high note.
Of course, the ever-loyal band of boys came back out for two encore songs. First of which was their most melancholic piece, “Iscariot,” which truly builds. But, as always, the band closed with “Jenny,” a pump-up with a killer bass line that gets everyone’s hips moving or feet jumping.
Still, the highlight of the night was when the quartet played the first single from their new album, Shut Up and Dance about halfway through the set. The song beckons fans to do exactly as Petricca is told by the mystical girl in the song: shut up and dance–or rather, the crowd shut up, sang, and danced. If the rest of the band’s songs are dance anthems, then this one is the danciest, most upbeat, carefree belt-alongs that the band has written yet. From the sneak-peek of the band’s killer new music, it is safe to say that upcoming album Talking is Hard is highly anticipated.