A&E

[Concert review]

Las Vegas far from breaking up with the Wallows on “Tell Me That It’s Over” tour

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The Wallows perform during their “Tell Me That It’s Over” tour stop Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, at the Brooklyn Bowl.
Patrick Gray / Kabik Photo Group

The Wallows

Friday's Brooklyn Bowl show was a first for the Wallows, the Southern California alt rockers headlining a concert in Las Vegas.

And if you ask most of the estimated 2,500 fans in attendance — many of them packed shoulder-to-shoulder on the Brooklyn Bowl floor — it was beyond a success.

The audience — largely youthful at the all-ages show — was engaged from the opening chords to the Wallows' first song, "Hard to Believe" until the final song of the band's encore more than 90 minutes later. Throughout the evening, they jumped up and down, sang along, screamed and took cellphone videos of the band, lead singer Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, with the assistance of Blake Morrell, ​​Danny Ferenbach and Kevin Grimmett.

And as engaged as the audience was, so too was the act they had come to see.

The Wallows are touring in support of their second studio album, "Tell Me That It's Over," which was released in March. The 20-song set included six cuts from the album, which draws heavily on relationship-related themes — most of them dealing with affairs coming to an end.

Lemasters, lead guitarist, was impressed with the Brooklyn Bowl crowd, telling the audience, "I like that energy out there."

And why wouldn't he? He'd hold his hands above his head and start to clap, and the audience would follow suit. When Lemasters told the crowd, "You have to jump!" The audience members obliged en masse.

The jump command came during the band's mix of their own song "Sun Tan" and One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful." A bridge between the two songs featured a trumpet solo by Ferenbach, a Las Vegas native and alumnus of the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts.

For "Quarterback," a song about longing for the recent love who may or may not return, Preston handed off his drumsticks to Minnette, picked up a guitar and took over the mic, ending the song with a nod to Sin City.

Summer's gone

I'm alone wishin' for your call, startin' to freak

I'm not sure if he's comin' over for the night

Quarterback's fine, Vegas

During "1980s Horror Film II," an engaging tune about a 17-year-old girl who has invited a guy over to watch a scary movie and his misreading of her intentions, Lemasters announced he was leaving the stage. A few minutes later, he reappeared at the rail of the Brooklyn Bowl's club level, dancing with audience members on the upper level while finishing the song lyrics:

The lights were off

The mood was right

She came and laid with me

I looked into her eyes

Tried to make her mine

But then she said

I'm really not that into guys

1980s horror film

1980s horror film

1980s horror film

1980s horror film

A mainstay of a Wallows show is the "fan pick," where Minnette locks in on a person in the audience who gets to request his or her favorite song by the band ("Make it a good one," he advised). On this night it was "Sidelines" from the band's 2019 debut album, "Nothing Happens." It, evidently, met Minnette's criteria and again had the audience jumping up and down in unison and singing throughout.

The night ended with "Are You Bored Yet," another cut from the 2019 album.

As the crowd filtered out of the Brooklyn Bowl, this much was clear: The fans attending the "Tell Me That It's Over" tour stop were anything but finished with their lovefest with the Wallows.

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