almost monday is one of music’s rising stars, and every time I see them play, I am reminded of why. They’re an absolute party every time, and Wednesday night at Bowery Ballroom was no different. Their set started with the upbeat fan favorite ‘only wanna dance’ and the vibes only grew from there.
Summertime is quickly fading away in New York City, but I’m not sure it ever does for almost monday. Two of the band’s most popular songs stream-wise are titled ‘sunburn’ and ‘sun keeps on shining’ and they’re perfect for your summer road trip and will transport you to the Southern California beach town that singer Dawson Daugherty, guitarist Cole Clisby, and bassist Luke Farby met and began playing music together in during high school.
I had the opportunity to talk with the band last year, and they described their early shows as high schoolers at the Encinitas Surf Shop Univ. It was the only venue that they were able to play and have their friends at. Wednesday’s crowd felt that you were amongst friends on the intimate Bowery Ballroom floor, and I imagined how it felt as beach balls flew from the stage to the venue floor.
As a live act, the indie-pop outfit is electric. Dawson’s vocals are impressive live, and the airy guitar riffs are more impressive in person. A majority of their catalog is easy to sing along to, and that was true with the performances of ‘cool enough’ and ‘come on come on’ and the show was off to an incredible start. Fans excitedly looked on as almost monday performed an unreleased song ‘coast to coast.’
At one point, Cole was on the shoulders of the opening act, Hoko’s shoulders playing guitar in a sort of mega-person formation as they played their latest single, ‘life goes by,’ among beach balls flying all around. It became a core concert memory for me and another reason to love almost monday. They never disappoint despite constantly raising the bar.
A highlight of the show was their cover of ‘What I Like About You’ by The Romantics which created instant nostalgia to a 90’s rom-com. After that the band rattled off some of the crowd favorites with songs like ‘live forever’ and ‘sun keeps on shining’ and the lights went back on in Bowery Ballroom, capping off an incredible performance from a band that only continues to grow and prove why they are one of our music obsessions at Road Trip Playlists.
