Photos and review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

The bill of Benee plus Wallows had 8,500 fans lined up around the Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco on September 8^th waiting to run in and smash up against the barricade to get close to their favorites.

The start of the show had Benee warming up the ready to have fun crowd, with her great voice and her moon boots and her fun, confident stage presence. With a ten song set that saw her play hits like “Sad Boi,” “Find An Island,” and everybody’s Tik Tok fave “Supalonely,” the crowd was with her from the jump and would have stayed right there the whole night even if she’d been the only performer. “Supalonely” drew the loudest yell-singing, with it as her last song of the night reaching audience fever pitch.

If opening bands are intended to warm up the crowd for the headliner, then the fans were plenty warm by the time Wallows took the stage. Actor/singer/heartthrob Dylan Minnette and bandmates started the show behind a curtain so they were all silhouetted for opener “Do Not Wait,” which led to some serious barricade screaming. And when the curtain dropped and they segued into “Your Apartment” the excitement got even more frenzied.

Over a 23-song set that towards the end saw Minnette go into the audience to walk to a B stage to perform three songs, they played favorites like “Scrawny,” “Pictures of Girls,” and “I Don’t Want to Talk.” The evening capped with “Are You Bored Yet?” and the audience had plenty of time to dance, sing, and swoon during the show. Core bandmates Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston had a strong presence during the show, with shared front and center vocals by Lemasters and some excellent drumming and color commentary from drummer Preston.

The Wallows Model Tour wraps its US leg in Los Angeles on September 12, then hops across the pond to begin an accelerated tour through select European cities in October, then jumps to Australia in December. For all the latest news and tour info check out www.wallowsmusic.com, and be sure to get some tickets when they hit your city.