Recap of Walk The Moon's "Talking is Hard" Tour
It’s official: after bringing their A-Game at WBRU’s “Shut Up and Dodge” event at Sky Zone and leaving everything they had on the stage at Lupo’s, Walk the Moon took over Providence yesterday. Despite the cold weather and gray skies, over 60 fans showed up...
It’s official: after bringing their A-Game at WBRU’s “Shut Up and Dodge” event at Sky Zone and leaving everything they had on the stage at Lupo’s, Walk the Moon took over Providence yesterday.
Despite the cold weather and gray skies, over 60 fans showed up at Sky Zone Providence for Shut Up and Dodge with Walk the Moon before their sold-out Lupo’s show on Thursday. The Ohio quartet kicked things off with a meet-and-greet at the WBRU photo booth, enthusiastically returning hugs and chatting with fans. But there were a couple especially heart-warming moments at this time: one fan had the band help him with his “promposal” and when another fan became emotional upon her time to meet them, Walk the Moon comforted her and then joined her in covering their mouths with their hands for an especially endearing picture.
Unfortunately vocalist and keyboardist Nick Petricca had an injured wrist that prevented him from participating in much of the trampoline dodgeball, but during the event he talked to fans and filmed his bandmates participating in their intense games. Guitarist Eli Maiman, bassist Kevin Ray, and drummer Sean Waugaman played with and against fans in multiple rounds of 10 on 10 trampoline dodgeball, occasionally taking water breaks and “sweaty dodgeball selfies” because trust us, trampoline dodgeball is a lot more exhausting than it seems. We couldn’t help but agree with the clever message on one team’s homemade shirts: “Dodging is hard.” Although Shut Up and Dodge left everyone a bit winded, all were still animated and excited for the show later that night. As Maiman stated, it was all a “good workout” and “good fun.”
Despite the ominously rainy and cold weather outside Lupos, everyone inside was prepped for July. The outfit of choice was definitely tank-tops and skinny jeans, as worn by lead singer, Nick Petricca himself. With so many people doing so much dancing, who needs the sun to stay warm anyway.
I woke up with this chant, as looped on stage and recorded by excited Australian children, pretty far stuck in my head. The Griswolds encouraged audience members to bounce along to such hits as “Down and Out” and “Beware the Dog.” After the performance, lead singer, Christopher Whitehall, walked through the crowd to the his merch table, where fans could meet him.
This one is a gimme for any Walk The Moon concert, but in typical form, plenty of people brought plenty of paint. Kind concert-going souls dolled out their extra paint to non-neon faces in line. The whole band entered on stage in full color regalia too.
Walk the Moon entered the stage to the same song that played when Simba entered the earth. Heavy smoke filled Lupos as “The Circle of Life” blared on speakers. Without a second thought, WtM jumped right into their first song, “Different Colors,” as their epic entrance ended.
As stated above, Nick’s wrist is sprained due to overuse. But watching him play piano and a drum on stage, it was nearly impossible to tell. From the second he walked on stage, he was high energy and in great spirits. He banged on the keys, screamed into the mic, and danced on stage, and gave the performance everything he had.
Periodically, Eli, the guitarist, explored the stage and walked to its edge for an epic solo. He would hold his guitar up, face front and shred riffs. While he made it look effortless, he was obviously soaking up all the positive energy the crowd was feeding him as everyone went wild.
Nick lead the crowd in a yoga-esc stretch to get rid of all the stress, issues, and anxiety in their life. He spoke extensively about bringing the energy of the concert out into peoples day-to-day lives. Audience members pushed the metaphorical weight higher and higher until everyones hands were in the air, the perfect position for WtM’s next song, “I Can Lift a Car.”
If you left early and missed this encore, I am so sorry. It was arguably the most high energy and crowd engaging time of the whole concert. They surprised everyone by covering The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done,” complete with crowd surfing and several band members’ solos. The entire crowd sung along for both the cover and their final song– “Anna Sun.” The concert ended on an extremely high-energy note with the band giving it their all on the familiar song that made them famous.
10 Things You Missed, if you weren’t at the show:
1. Pretending like it was summer
Despite the ominously rainy and cold weather outside Lupos, everyone inside was prepped for July. The outfit of choice was definitely tank-tops and skinny jeans, as worn by lead singer, Nick Petricca himself. With so many people doing so much dancing, who needs the sun to stay warm anyway.
2. The Griswolds BE IMPRESSIVE. B. E. IMPRESSIVE. B.E.I.M.P.R.E.S.S.I.V.E.
I woke up with this chant, as looped on stage and recorded by excited Australian children, pretty far stuck in my head. The Griswolds encouraged audience members to bounce along to such hits as “Down and Out” and “Beware the Dog.” After the performance, lead singer, Christopher Whitehall, walked through the crowd to the his merch table, where fans could meet him.
3. Facepaint
This one is a gimme for any Walk The Moon concert, but in typical form, plenty of people brought plenty of paint. Kind concert-going souls dolled out their extra paint to non-neon faces in line. The whole band entered on stage in full color regalia too.
4. “Walk the Circle of Life”
Walk the Moon entered the stage to the same song that played when Simba entered the earth. Heavy smoke filled Lupos as “The Circle of Life” blared on speakers. Without a second thought, WtM jumped right into their first song, “Different Colors,” as their epic entrance ended.
5. An incredible light show
The stage was packed with lasers, strobes, and metallic arrows rigged with more lights. Different colors were pointed at specific members so at a given time, Kevin was wholly pink while Eli was wholly blue. Balloons with LED lights bounced around the crowd. The whole show built up to an explosion of color and lights for “Shut Up and Dance.”6. Nick playing through pain, and not missing a beat
As stated above, Nick’s wrist is sprained due to overuse. But watching him play piano and a drum on stage, it was nearly impossible to tell. From the second he walked on stage, he was high energy and in great spirits. He banged on the keys, screamed into the mic, and danced on stage, and gave the performance everything he had.
7. Epic solos
Periodically, Eli, the guitarist, explored the stage and walked to its edge for an epic solo. He would hold his guitar up, face front and shred riffs. While he made it look effortless, he was obviously soaking up all the positive energy the crowd was feeding him as everyone went wild.
8. Playing a “Little Game”
Nick checked on the audience often, commenting that the last time they played Providence things got, “a little insane.” He remarked that after seeing the line down the block, they felt like “a real band.” Towards the end of the concert, he instructed the crowd in a “little game” that involved the crowd coordinating their jumping to the bands playing. While not everyone participated, the whole crowd won.
9. Relieving all your stress
Nick lead the crowd in a yoga-esc stretch to get rid of all the stress, issues, and anxiety in their life. He spoke extensively about bringing the energy of the concert out into peoples day-to-day lives. Audience members pushed the metaphorical weight higher and higher until everyones hands were in the air, the perfect position for WtM’s next song, “I Can Lift a Car.”
10. The encore
If you left early and missed this encore, I am so sorry. It was arguably the most high energy and crowd engaging time of the whole concert. They surprised everyone by covering The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done,” complete with crowd surfing and several band members’ solos. The entire crowd sung along for both the cover and their final song– “Anna Sun.” The concert ended on an extremely high-energy note with the band giving it their all on the familiar song that made them famous.
Want MORE Walk the Moon? Check out more photos from the show courtesy of WBRU staff photographer Beth Desta!
Walk the Moon & The Griswolds @ Lupos!