Bad Copy

It had already been a fairly busy week leading up to last Wednesday. While it was a holiday weekend away from my full-time gig, I ended up keeping myself busy and covered Detroit’s renowned Movement Electronic Music Festival, aka “Techno Christmas.”  Although I was very sleep deprived and struggling to think straight, none of that mattered because I was about to see one of my favorite bands, The Wonder Years.

This recent tour was something a bit different than their usual setup, where they focused entirely on their 3 Burst & Decay series of albums. Not only was it a bit more stripped down reimagined versions of their beautiful and emotional music, but they also had the Little Kruta String Ensemble joining them for both creating Part 3 of the album and also joining on tour.

Kevin Devine came out to open to an already pretty packed crowd excited for for night. I hadn’t listened to his music in years, and it felt great to hear both some new and old songs from him. Of course I was also super excited to hear his song “Cotton Crush”!

After that it was time for The Wonder Years to take stage. While all the lights and setup of the stage were dark, a recording of “Doors I Painted Shut” began to play, and with that all nine members of the band began to take their spots one-by-one, as all the little lamps and ambient lights began to dimly glow. I forgot to mention that the venue they were playing at was this little Cathedral Theatre attached to our Masonic Temple. The introduction, lighting, music and that view of the cathedral stage really set the beautiful tone and mood for the rest of the night.

Overall it was almost two hours with wonderful music, stories and, conversations with the crowd in between, and closing it all off with one of my old favorites, “Came Out Swinging,” to close out a perfect night. I am still thinking about what an amazing show and performance that was from everyone who played that night, and feel like it will be one to remember for a while.