Photos and words by Sam Diaz
I swear my friends had to keep pinching me all night because shooting this show was definitely a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for a better kick off show as a Rockin’ The ‘Burbs contributor than to photograph The Wrecks’ sold out show on their Better Than Ever Tour at Asbury Lanes. This show was such an awesome one and it definitely was a special one for not only myself but for drummer Billy Nally and lead guitarist Nick ‘Schmizz’ Schmidt who are both Jersey natives.
The Wrecks consists of Nick Anderson on vocals, Aaron Kelley on bass, Schmizz on lead guitar, and Billy Nally on drums. The last time these guys made an appearance at the Lanes was last year as an opener for The Driver Era and their popularity has only skyrocketed since then.
The show started with Mothé (who actually plays with The Wrecks as a guitarist too) entering the stage singing some amazing songs like “You’re So Cool”, “Breathe”, “Dreams”, and my personal favorite “Photobooth” which I heard for the first time since it’s currently unreleased. Girlhouse followed – their setlist was short but sweet and had all of my favorite songs like the “fatalist”, “knuckle tattoo”, and “ballcap szn”. Both openers came out nearing the end of the show to sing vocals for “Where Are You Now” with Nick Anderson.
In light of this current tour, The Wrecks have also recently released their sophomore studio album Sonder that came out in June, which I definitely recommend listening to. Many songs off that album such as the title track “Sonder”, “Ugly Side”, “I Love This Part”, “Dystopia”, “Where Are You Now” (which featured openers Girlhouse and Mothé as well), and the very tear jerking song “Normal” were featured on the setlist. Of course with brand new songs came some older ones off their debut album Infinitely Ordinary which was released in 2020 like “Freaking Out”, “Out of Style”, “This Life I Have”, “Infinitely Ordinary”, and one of their biggest hits “Fvck Somebody”, which is just shy of passing their biggest hit ever (and might I add their debut single) “Favorite Liar” (currently sitting at about 28 million streams on Spotify). The setlist also included songs from way back when in 2018 and what might have to be my favorite WRX project ever, their Panic Vertigo EP which included the title track and “Figure This Out”.
The essence and vibe of tonight’s show was everything. All from the amazing drums (courtesy of Billy Nally) or just the interaction between artist and fans. You could definitely see the happiness and pride on Schmizz and Nally’s face when it clicked for them that this sold out crowd was here to see them and their band in a venue I can only imagine they grew up going to concerts at, filled to the brim with not only their fans but their friends and family supporting them as well.
All I can really say is that The Wrecks really know how to keep a crowd going. Every single song had the crowd only screaming louder and louder. On paper the setlist did kind of feel short (with only about 14-16 songs) but without realizing it, 2 hours had already flown by when the show came to an end. The Wrecks ended the night with their Alt Nation hit “Favorite Liar” which of course had everyone jumping and screaming until the very end of the night. Hopefully The Wrecks keep their potential promise of not only going on a fall tour later this year but also perhaps two nights in Jersey next time because I’ll definitely drop everything to see them twice in a row in the future.
