Photography by Lizzie Heintz
By Lizzie Heintz
The room never filled all the way up, but that made for a relaxed atmosphere.
The lights were dim, and the room was quiet before the show started. Unlike other concerts I've been to, the crowd for Wild Nothing seemed relaxed; not unexcited for the band, more just content with the laid-back nature of the show. Nothing seemed too intense or structured.
Men I Trust kept the chilled atmosphere alive.
The opening was just what the crowd needed: laid back melodies with an alt-indie touch. The crowd remained relatively quiet during the opening set, but it only led to a more enthusiastic reaction to the headliner. They soon ended, and band members from Wild Nothing came onstage to do a mic check themselves. This only added to the suspension of the performance to come, prompting chants and yelling from the waiting audience.
Frontman Jack Tatum kept it cool, calm and collected as he and the rest of his bandmates performed their thirteen song set list.
They kept small talk to a minimum, barely speaking between songs at all before moving to the next one. He did, though, leave time for a joke as he opened the show.
"I'm impressed you all left your house! It's [expletive] cold outside," he joked at the beginning of the set. This was the only thing he said to the crowd beside the occasional "thank you," but they didn't mind. Each song sounded like background music for a new coming of age movie - soothing, but with a pop here and there from the saxophone they introduced during the sixth song (and boy, did that saxophone add some life.)
Fans enjoyed the set even though the room was uncrowded.
The show seemed fairly low-energy on behalf of the group, but the crowd bounced their heads to the beat of the songs rhythmically. They cheered loudly after every song and chanted for an encore after the set had finished. It might have been nice to have more audience interaction from the group - even with the chanting, there were moments of silence between songs that seemed to last for minutes, bringing the awkward cheers of fans wanting to fill the void of sound.
The band ended the night with a one-song encore before closing the show.
Fans chanted the band name until the men came back out for a final song. This encore was shorter than their regular two or three song ones, prompting the motive behind leaving without playing more. Other than this, though, the night was vibe filled and chill, and an entertaining way to end a miserably cold Wednesday night.
