wrong worshippers + friend(philly) ft. evan solomon @ another round bar and grill, 7/26/23
tuesday, aug 15 2023 2:55 pm
this was the last show i've been to so i'm gonna go ahead and christen this page with it, even though it's beeen a couple weeks. sadly i was super busy finishing up my summer term so i couldn't go to any shows after this last one -- even though there were so many good ones to go to! scruffie at the bridge, avail at brown's island, gouge away and destructo disk at the richmond music hall, and another wrong worshippers show last night at the camel... plus a million more. every night is packed in rva.
hopefully i'll be making a lot more shows once i start school in a week. anyway, i wanna talk about this wrong worshippers and friend show now, because it was badass.
i'd never been to a show at another round before this. i'll tell you, when we pulled up we weren't quite sure we were in the right place... another round is actually a bit outside of richmond proper, we had to cut through a bit of henrico county to actually get to it. plus once we got there there was some kind of antique car show going on in the parking lot and, frankly, a lot of the guests at another round seemed a bit older than the typical audience for one of these shows.
but once we got inside, we found that the show actually took place in a large windowless room in the back of the bar, which was even a bit underground. there was a pit already made, too, that you had to take steps down into. the big letters behind the stage declared the room the burnout pit -- and frankly, the burnout pit was pretty badass. and the women's restroom was awesome.
let me tell you what i knew going into this show. i've seen recent high-school grads wrong worshippers a million times -- they're my friends -- but i'm never disappointed in a show of theirs. this was their hometown date on their first ever tour alongside friend! they'd been to nyc and two maryland dates at this point, and after this rva show they were heading to dc. let me say real quick -- i am so extremely proud of the wrong worshippers, and eternally honored to have worked with them on their flyers and album art. they're up and coming and destined to do great things, so make sure you check them out on their instagram, spotify, or bandcamp.
i also knew a bit about friend. the philadelphia band had seen a few viral tiktok moments by this point, but before that i'd briefly seen them in a cramped basement called the rabbit hole back in the summer of 2022. unfortunately, cars started getting ticketed and me and my friends decided to leave that show before i got to see friend's full set. what i'd seen on tik tok had been great -- songs like 'braces' and 'no room for pigs in heaven' are certified bangers.
evan solomon i only sort of was aware of. i believe i've seen him before, but it was at one of those shows where i was selling zines and ten different acts were playing so they sort of slipped past me. they put on a fine performance if a bit full of technical difficulties, although wrong worshippers and friend were absolutely on their a-game that night.
wrong worshippers was first after evan solomon's opening set. by this point, i'm more than familiar with wrong worshippers' set, and yet -- they're always tons and tons of fun. singer/bassist nick walker absolutely shines on stage and drummer milo mcadams is full of energy. no matter how large the audience they always put on amazing shows and this was no different. once they get a few songs in they start going crazy -- milo jumping onto nick's back to take the mic and all sorts of things like that. they got the crowd going crazy. we were two-stepping and moshing and exploded when milo did his signature move of jumping into the crowd to mosh with us while nick played some crazy bass.
two steppin! i'm in this picture. wonderful photo taken by @_emerson_rose_on instagram.
a standout moment was when they played their latest single (a song i'm a bit biased about, since i made the cover): not your pawns. this song is amazing. compare it to the first ep they released back in 2021 aand you'll hear just how much their artistry has improved, despite their first ep being great in its own right. not your pawnsis an anthem against governor glenn youngkin's anti-trans education policies -- a song against any politician attacking trans kids. it's almost a call-to-arms, and always makes me feel proud to be queer when i listen to it with defiant chants like let dead names stay dead and ballots don't do shit so i'll take the bullets!
nick walker singing! wonderful photo by @_emerson_rose_ on instagram.
in between the worshippers' set and friend's set, the two bands combined to make a crazy cover of a song i unfortunately can't remember the name of. despite only playing together for the last week or so, and this seemingly being the first time they'd played this song together on stage, their energy was crazy. the two bands did an amazing job combining their talents and igniting the crowd. it was absolutely fucking badass.
friend and wrong worshippers' collab! wonderful photo by @emerson_rose_on instagram
friend's set was absolutely killer. i was less familiar with their sets, having only biefly seen them live a year ago, so everything was a surprise to me. the energy of the crowd didn't die even once, even though we were all going crazy when it came to moshing and dancing. quick shoutout to our friend marco who fractured his foot while moshing and spent the rest of the show watching all our water cups (and my glasses)!
friend killing it! wonderful photo by @emerson_rose_on instagram
friend captured me with this show, and i can't wait to hopefully see them live again one day. sucks that they're already up in philly -- they HAVE to come back to richmond. they had us doing theatrics, bowing and shit; they had us screaming and barking for some reason. the energy those guys have on stage is palpable and contagious. if you're in the philly area, go see them IMMEDIATELY. it is so so worth it.
wrong worshippers and friend performing together gave me a lot of hope for the future of the scene in richmond. i'm officially moving to richmond proper this saturday. i don't know what i'm stepping into for the next eight years i plan on living there while i get my masters, but i know i'm about to see something beautiful and fucking amazing. you could be too -- find your local scene, whether it's one band in a suburbs garage or some kids playing guitar on a farm or a million bands in a punk-infused city like richmond. i promise it's worth it; punk is on the come up and you're gonna want to be a part of it.
--aryll
find wrong worshippers on instagram, spotify, and bandcamp
find friend on instagram, spotify, and bandcamp
find evan solomon on instagram, spotify, and bandcamp
find another round bar and grill on instagram
find photographer emerson rose on instagram