A Brief Vacation(er) at The Sinclair

Stephanie Richards ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The venue doors open at 7:30. The band you came to see plays at 9:30. In between? An up-and-coming band, or one no one’s heard of, or maybe one with a niche audience (that is not you). Or, less frequently at smaller indoor venues, a band you already know and/or love as much as the main band. Not too long ago, Vacationer was one of these bands, and frontman Kenny Vasoli took a moment to recognize this as he stood before the crowd at the Sinclair Monday night. For this tour, Vacationer was the main attraction for enthusiastic fans, both new and old.

This show marked the end of their 2014 Relief tour, the band’s second full-length album, and Vacationer gave it everything they had. Vasoli stepped on the stage wearing a beanie; within a minute, it was shaken off, not to be seen again. Each band member had his own way of jamming out: guitarist Greg Altman just riding the groove with an easy smile, Michael Mullin positively rocking out on keyboard, and Ryan Zimmaro on drums somehow maintaining an immaculate hairstyle the entire show.

Vacationer hit the crowd with a good dose of Relief, starting with the laid back “Paradise Waiting,” hitting up the more up-tempo “Shining,” and inviting fans to sing along with “In the Grass.” If they weren’t already moving to the beat, the featured single “The Wild Life,” and favourites off of Gone, “Everybody Knows” and “Good As New” got the audience dancing. Midway through the show, the band treated us to “Warmer,” the elusive track only found on The Wild Life seven-inch vinyl B-side. Footage of oceans and other vacation-inspired scenes rolled across a screen upstage and, along with Vasoli’s easy banter, kept a positive vibe and light spirits.

Vacationer closed with, in the words of Vasoli, “a banger, a chill banger hop, and another chill banger hop” to launch the crowd into the rest of the week. They’ll be hitting up Union Transfer in Philadelphia next week on the 26th of November. Check out their website, and if you didn’t catch them this time around, stay tuned for the next time they’re in town!

Check out Emertainment Monthly‘s interview with Vasoli here.