If you’re a fan of energetic, positive, indie-pop and you haven’t heard of Walk The Moon yet, you must have been living in some kind of music-restricted cave. If you generally don’t like this genre but you heard WTM and it still doesn’t give you a strong positive kick… well, don’t read this article…
Walk The Moon is a four piece band from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Infecting with energy from 2008, they made it big with releasing the single Anna Sun after signing with Mick Management in 2011. On the 2nd of December 2014 they presented to the world their second long-play Talking is Hard. The boys don’t often visit the old continent but this month they popped to UK for a short tour. Their route included Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and twice London. All shows were sold out but I was lucky enough to see Walk The Moon on 17th of February in The Dome in London.
When we finally got to the venue all space was already full and on the stage was a support band which description can be shortened to “Walk The Moon wannabe”. Before appearing on the stage I spotted WTM’s guitarist Eli Maiman casually saying hello to a group of girls. The gig started slightly after 9pm. The “about” section on the official WTM’s website says:
“In concert, it’s clear that WALK THE MOON’s live show is not a spectator sport. Instead, it’s an interactive celebration of life and love, a communal commitment to joy and living in the moment. Onstage, Petricca leads audiences in a mass exorcism of the things that bring them down, casting out the demons of doubt and insecurity with hands raised to the sky.”
The band proved all that in The Dome. They started with a hit from their first self-titled album and for an hour and a half they were juggling with their biggest songs from both long-plays. So obviously, they played ‘Anna Sun’, ‘Shiver’, ‘Tightrope’, ‘I Can Lift A Car’ and ‘Next In Line’ from their debut and ‘Shut Up And Dance’, ‘Up 2 U’, ‘Spend Your $$$’ and ‘Down In The Dumps’ from the fresh long-play. They ended up the concert with an unexpected performance of ‘Jenny’! Petricca and ensemble definitely did meet the expectations. The show was highly energetic and the band was giving their 200% on the stage which was shown on their bodies which were covered in sweat by the third song. Both guitarist and the leader quickly made contact with the audience and interacted a lot with us. Nicolas Petricca did a mass exorcism and hypnotized the public in the intro of ‘I Can Lift A Car’. During the song the whole room was “lifting up” their problems up to the air and screaming out the lyrics of the chorus.
The only thing that failed was… the audience. Even though (judging by the screams caused by words “Cincinnati”, “Ohio” and “USA”) the room was filled with Americans, it appears that the Anglo-Saxon public is more the “spectator” type of audience. Our Polish-Spanish delegates seemed to be the only people in the reach of the eye who danced and jumped (for which they received plenty of dirty looks). But maybe that was just the fault of the small size of the venue.
My fingers are crossed for the return of Walk The Moon to the UK, hopefully for this years festival season!
