REVIEW: The Wonder Years @ the Strand 11/02
By Ali Audet
Philadelphia rockers the Wonder Years put on a phenomenal show at the Strand on Friday, Nov. 2.
The band released their sixth studio album, Sister Cities, in April of this year–their first album to peak at #1 on the Billboard U.S. Indie chart. The setlist reflected this achievement: it included many songs from Sister Cities. The band opened with titular track and album opener “Sister Cities.” The effect this song had was electric; the venue shook with the force and ferocity of the opener. The band’s departure from their classic pop punk roots was evident immediately; “Sister Cities” has a new sense of maturity to its sound, closer to alt-rock more akin to 2015’s No Closer to Heaven than fan-favorite Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing (2011).
Yet, this isn’t to say the band left behind their roots for the whole show. Throughout the first half of the show, the band played songs like “Local Man Ruins Everything” from Suburbia, “Dismantling Summer” and “There, There” from The Greatest Generation, and more selections from Sister Cities, including “Raining in Kyoto” and “The Orange Grove.”
About halfway through the night, they even played 2010’s “Melrose Diner” from The Upsides. For a band touring to support their sixth studio album, they put as much energy into “Melrose Diner” as they did into Sister Cities tracks like “Raining in Kyoto” or “The Orange Grove.” What never fails to astound me at the Wonder Years’ shows is the intensity and care the band puts into every song they perform, regardless of its age or genre. There is a dedication that each member puts into these songs that shows you how much they love what they’re doing.
From there, the band moved to playing selections from 2015’s No Closer to Heaven. The raw pain of songs like “Cardinals” and “Cigarettes & Saints” (the latter about losing a close friend to drug addiction) didn’t damper the mood of the night. In fact, I would venture to say it bolstered it. The sing-along qualities of those songs and the powerful music behind them made them engaging rather than somber. This is especially true of “Cigarettes & Saints,” which starts out sober and low, but builds to its closing remarks: “My whole generation got lost in the margins / We put our faith in you and you turned a profit / Now we’re drowning here under the waves.” This same quality tinged the rest of the band’s set, with songs like “Heaven’s Gate (Sad and Sober)” and “Passing Through a Screen Door” matching the same engagement and exhilaration.
The main set ended with a rollicking rendition of “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral,” a rehashing of various The Greatest Generation songs strung together into their own finale. The band returned after a short break for the two-song encore.
The first song of the encore was The Greatest Generation’s “The Devil in My Bloodstream.” Personally, I wasn’t a fan of their choice to put “Devil” in the encore. There are plenty of other songs from The Greatest Generation or Suburbia that could have had a stronger impact in the final two songs. I would have preferred to hear something more popular, like “There, There”, in the encore and “Devil” earlier in the set. Both have the slow wind-up of “Cigarettes & Saints,” but “There, There” packs a stronger punch in the end.
The closer of the set, however, was one of my favorite songs of the night. It was Suburbia’s “Came Out Swinging,” one of the band’s most iconic songs, and it came out perfectly. It’s a solid translation from recorded album to live performance, as all their catalog is. But even more than that, it has the raw energy that makes the Wonder Years so remarkable. Not only do fans get into the music, but the band themselves get completely immersed. Beyond that, “Came Out Swinging” is a testament to the bands origins, and to their growth both as people and as a band. “I came out swinging from a South Philly basement / Caked in stale beer and sweat under half lit fluorescents.” For a band that has seen its fair share of ups and downs, to be able to reminisce about their roots while acknowledging that they’ve moved forward is astounding. It was a triumphant end to a fantastic show.