Photos and words by Taylor Shields
Indie 3-piece Wallows played to a sold out crowd at The Met Philly on Thursday, June 23rd. The band, composed of members Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters, and Cole Preston, is touring their sophomore album, Tell Me That It’s Over, released just this past March. LA-based artist Spill Tab warmed up the room, in what felt like a headlining performance rather than an opener. Engaging the crowd with a sing-along cover of Kelly Clarkson’s iconic pop classic “Since U Been Gone” as well as tracks off her latest EP Bonnie, Spill Tab felt like the perfect lead-in for the energy Wallows was expected to bring.
To the delight of the crowd, Wallows entered promptly at 9pm. The stage, lit with 6 floor lamps and the cool glow of a colored jumbo screen hanging behind the band, set the mood as the lights flashed in time with the opening notes of Tell Me‘s opening track “Hard to Believe”. The band is certainly not short on fan devotion, as the crowd energy only seemed to build throughout the night. The sold out audience enthusiastically sang along with every song, tossed small gifts on stage, and were overjoyed at the experience of taking in a Wallows show.
The band powered through a 21-song setlist, but paused briefly towards the end of “I Don’t Want to Talk”, when lead vocalist Minnette spotted signaling from the audience that medical assistance was needed in the crowd. Once emergency medical personnel cleared the scene, Wallows decided to take the song from the top. Exiting briefly before returning for a much-anticipated encore, the band asked for a request for one of the three closing songs and obliged with a performance of “Do Not Wait”. Finishing the set with 2019’s “Are You Bored Yet?” left the audience with a question they didn’t seem to need any time to ponder. As the band exited the stage, the crowd’s cheers for more proved the general consensus is definitely “not yet”.
Wallows will be wrapping the first leg of the Tell Met That It’s Over tour with an appearance at Lollapalooza at the end of July and will pick back up in September. See all of their upcoming tour dates here and keep scrolling below to see more photos from the show.
