It’s been a few days since the Walk The Moon concert in Seattle and I am still feeding off the energy from what was one of the most incredible nights at the Showbox Sodo I have experienced.

Walk The Moon have described their live performance as ‘not a spectator sport’. The moment the entire band came on stage the crowd was ready to participate. While the role of the opening bands was to warm up the crowd, no band could have warmed up the crowd to the level need before the Walk The Moon concert. But no problem for Walk The Moon as they got the crowd ready during the first song as they broke out in the song  “Next In Line”. It was easy to see the joy in the faces of the fans as they watched the each member dance around stage preforming their 80’s and early 90’s inspired music. These dance-wave-rockers sure made waves with songs like Tightrope, Shiver Shiver, Quesadilla, and Fixin’. One guy near me was yelling over the music to his friend’s “This is my favorite band – I have seen these guys live four times”. Needless to say, this fan was lively all night. He knew all the words up until Walk The Moon played their first new song, “Bring Me Back”. Started off soft with only keyboards and a simple backup harmony. When the song really got started and jumped into the verse it has an obvious electronic 80’s vibe with a bombastic beat. The chorus then exploded into a splash of pop-dance brilliance. If this song was a taste of what to expect from Walk The Moon’s second album then I serious don’t think I can wait until spring 2013 for it.

Playing a range of current and new songs Walk The Moon turned back a few pages with a couple from their early days of self recorded albums including ‘Me and All My Friends’. It turned into a sing along as lead singer Nicholas Petricca had everyone learn the lyrics and have them repeat “Come on over now” after every time he sung “Me and All My Friends”. It was something special leaving me with shivers at the sound. Shortly after this my friend next to me noticed we were standing right behind some of her friends from school.  I am not saying that Walk The Moon’s song “Me and All My Friends” brought us all together but maybe…? The night continued to get better after each song including another new song Boyfriend followed by Iscariot, and I Can Lift a Car which had the crowd raising their hands up and down as if to lift a car. Finally the night was coming to a close but not before the song everyone was waiting for – ANNA SUN! Petricca reminded everyone  that came out to support the show to be sure to sweat out any negative energy they had left inside them so they could continue on their life with more positivity. And with the start of Anna Sun all my negativity had gone as with everyone next to me. The soft start and electric synthesizer that gradually leads in the high energy chorus of Anna Sun was the perfect end to a perfect evening. Its still hard to believe what a performance Walk The Moon produced that evening but I have not regrets staying up till 3:00am to be able to experience it.

Up before Walk The Moon was a band that could probably spilt in two and become two bands, they got so many members.  It was time for The Mowglis! Not the fictional character from The Jungle Book but the eight piece alternative love-rock band from California with more positive vibes then a motivational speaker. Each song more upbeat then the next, this lively bunch of energetic friends did not bring down the house, they brought it up high. Picking right off were Smallpools left off but on another level. With eight people dancing, moving, and entertaining the crowd it was hard to only look in one direction. And with every member switching instruments on different songs every song was fresh. Inbetween songs the band reminded everybody to live their life with joy and positivity. With 2, 3, 4, or all 8, I don’t really know, the harmonizing between every singer and back up singer was impeccable. Such a lovely sound of music my ears don’t get to hear often. Towards the end the set the head guitarist and lead singer jumped down off the stage and joined all the fans in the crowd. Giving off more positivity to the crowd and ending on a high not finishing with the hit song “San Francisco”. I had been looking forward to seeing The Mowgli’s for sometime and surely failed to disappoint.

Before Walk The Moon had a chance to impress a venue full of mainly high school girls and boys, came a unique opening acts. First up was a band with an incredible resume for only being together as a band for a couple months, Smallpools. This 80’s sounding indie pop band has reach #23 on Billboards Alternative Song Chart, featured on FIFA 14 soundtrack, had a song featured in the season 5 premiere of The Vampire Diaries, and finally had their song “Over and Over” used the promotional video for the new social media site Snapchat Stories. It was no wonder every fan girl in the front row was so excited to see Smallpools opening up for Walk The Moon. Each song had a kind of pattern featuring lead singer Sean Scanlon singing every verse in a deep voice and switch over to high pitched vocals during the chorus. Tasked with the role of warming up the crowd guitarist Mike Kamerman yelled out to the crowd “It was our job to warm you up, are you guys warm? I know I am” To that he got the response of screams from the fans in the crowd. So I am guessing Yes.

*As a fan of Walk The Moon and someone who has a strong interest in their future, I wish the best of luck to them as they record their new album this winter. Until next time…enjoy some photos from this incredible evening.

Setlist:

Next In Line
Quesadilla
Lisa Baby
Bring Me Back (new song)
Tightrope
Anwayican
Tete-A-Tete
Boyfriend (new song)
Shiver Shiver
Me and All My Freinds
Iscariot
Fixin’
I Can Lift a Car
Anna Sun

Encore:
Jenny

The Mowgli’s

Smallpools