Photos and words via William Bruder
All had been quiet on Shout Out Louds‘ homefront since mid-2010 when the band announced they would be on hiatus while they rediscovered their sound. So when last November rolled around, and the ‘Blue Ice’ single was released, I could not have been more excited for what was to come. With the single came news of an untitled album, with the news of an untitled album came the known fact of the tour to go along. I knew that I would be at at least one stop.
Let’s fast forward to the tour stop I had been waiting for at the 9:30 Club in Washington,
DC. The band Haerts opened up the show and did an excellent job. The band’s single “Wings” was featured here in October of last year. If you missed it, then make sure to check them out. Haerts came out with a passionate performance that really left an impression on me.
After the Shout Out Louds came on stage it seemed apparent to me that they needed just a little more practice, as a band, on some songs from their latest album, Optica. However, there is a silver lining in there, the band visited their entire catalog and pleased the crowd by doing so. By the end of the show I could tell the band had kicked it into 5th gear and were moving very smoothly. The closing song was “Very Loud” from their first album, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, and by the final verse I had those chills down my spine that I had been longing for.
The encore had a particularly special feeling to it. The band started with “Destroy” from Optica, and then jumped into an incredibly energetic performance of “Walls” from Work. I don’t think that the crowd was ready for the final song which was “Tonight I Have to Leave It” from their sophomore album Our Ill Wills. It was remarkable to watch frontman, Adam Olenius, jump from vocals/guitar, to tambourine, then to a drum, and then back to vocals.
At the end of the song when Olenius shouts “Give love, give love / Why won’t you give love, give love?” he surprised everyone when he jumped into the crowd and closed the show out while being the center of a very, very large group hug. So then there I was, left wanting a double encore when the band expressed that they hope to see DC sooner than the three long years it had been.
Check out photos from both Shout Out Louds/Haerts below.
Haerts:
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