The Griswolds w/ Dreamers and Wild English
Chop Suey, Seattle, WA
02.08.17

On a dreary, drizzly Wednesday night at Seattle’s Chop Suey, The Griswolds kicked off their “Low Lives Tour.” There supporting their sophomore full-length, High Times For Low Lives, they brought the perfect upbeat, feel-good indie pop the crowd was looking for.

To open the night, local four-piece Wild English performed their beach-y garage rock for the crowd. They made quite an impression, as the first words spoken through the mic were “Fuck Donald Trump!” which pleased most of the fans. Their songs carried some odd themes to match their quirky personalities, and the audience simply ate up their charismatic and fun performance.

Next up was Dreamers, an indie rock band who wowed the crowd with their talented performance. Though the group only released their debut album last year, they’ve already created a performance that makes them seem like veterans. They had the confidence and energy of a more experienced band, and their set was perfect to hype up the crowd. Closing their performance with “Sweet Disaster” and “Wolves,” everyone had warmed up substantially from jumping and dancing along with the band, and those last, hard-hitting tunes left everyone wanting more.

Quickly opening their set with “Role Models,” The Griswolds had the crowd dancing from start to finish. Lead singer Chris Whitehall ran on stage with a tour flag specifically made for the Washington show, waved it around, then rewarded it to a very dedicated fan at the front of the stage. The fans screamed every word of the opening songs, and danced through the whole set.

Aside from having fantastic music, the band is also incredibly sweet and humble. Whitehall took multiple opportunities to thank the crowd for coming out and making the show a great start to the tour, but he also took a few moments for a small political reflection. In light of the recent election, he mentioned how our world shouldn’t be one where your race or who you like determine how you’re treated, and we all simply need to accept and love each other.

The set continued with the title track of their last album, “Be Impressive.” This was hands down the best sing-along moment of the night, as the track opened with the crowd shouting along to the “Be impressive! B-E impressive! B-E I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!” before it launched into the rest of the bright indie song. After the party that was the first half of the night, Whitehall told the crowd that the night was very special, not only because it was the start of the tour, but because it was drummer Lachlan West’s birthday. Of course, this was quickly followed by a very loud and passionate rendition of “Happy Birthday” from the whole crowd.

To top off the night, the band chose their most popular song, “Beware the Dog,” and one of their first tracks, “Heart of a Lion,” to perform, leaving the crowd worn out and smiling. What was originally just another rainy Seattle night was transformed into an energetic and exciting one thanks to the great performances from The Griswolds.

Review by Lulu Dawson
Photos by Zach Etahiri

The Griswolds


Dreamers


Wild English