Honestly when I sat down to write this post I promised myself that I was gonna try to sound all professional and what not but. I just can't do it man. The DC Farewell Drive North show was so insanely good I don't even know how to express my feelings with proper, professional words. Now, before I completely go off about this show, I have a little bit of a backstory. I went to this show alone and let me tell you, when I go to shows alone I usually just stand to the back of the pit and bop my head along to all the songs because I'm a bit of a bitch and I don't want to go into the crowd alone. But at this show... man. Let me tell you. I have literally never had so much fucking FUN alone at a show. I instantly fell in love with The Regrettes. I mean seriously. The SECOND they came on stage I was completely in awe. The amount of energy and straight up passion they brought onto the stage was refreshing. They seemed to genuinely love what they were doing, not once losing their spark while performing and the crowd reacted positively by putting just as much effort into having a good time. (Does that sentence even make any sense? Basically The Regrettes went HARD and the crowd fucking loved it.) The entire audience radiated pure excitement whenever the band interacted with them. Lead singer Lydia Knight jumped into the crowd multiple times while the audience was singing along with every absolute jam they busted out, guitarist Sage Nicole helped the audience get off their feet by jumping and dancing along to the songs, encouraging the crowd to follow along and do the same; it was all absolutely electric. The Regrettes made the stage their own and it was genuinely AMAZING. By the time SWMRS came on, the audience was tired out due to the amount of energy they put into The Regrettes, but also more than ready to experience whatever was coming next. As mentioned before, you know I was planning on just standing to the side bopping my head but the SECOND Palm Trees started playing I was pushing around in the pit with everyone else. SWMRS played every song on the Drive North album filled with absolute love for music + their audience. (And it showed on stage; Cole Becker getting so into the performance that he started climbing on the railings of the venue, Seb Mueller talking to members of the crowd in between songs, moments after he shredded his absolute heart out on the guitar, Max Becker also getting so into the performance that he got on his knees and played his guitar all while Joey Armstrong gave everything he had to absolutely destroying the drums. This band was seriously electric, I couldn't get enough.) SWMRS had the audience captivated throughout their whole set; starting circle pits, encouraging the crowd to just get up, dance, and have the time of their lives. Not only did they captivate the crowd with their music, but also with the messages they spread during the show. Cole Becker spoke to the crowd about the importance of safety during shows, an unfortunately underrated topic. He encouraged the audience to speak up to staff of the venue and to the crew of the band if they have any issues during the show, which shows how well the band uses their platform. Overall, The Regrettes and SWMRS brought they best out of me that night, they made me feel comfortable enough to have as much fun as everyone else in that venue. That's the way shows should be, everyone coming together and having fun in honor of one thing: music. On this night, SWMRS, The Regrettes, and the Interrupters brought 600 complete strangers together by treating us all as equals, as family; and by playing some extremely good music.
(P.S. You might notice the lack of The Interupters in this post. I was unfortunately unable to stay for their set, but I made my friend tell me everything that happened and I can promise you that they were just as electric as The Regrettes and SWMRS. The passion they put into their recorded music seemed to transfer over to their live performance and seemed to dominate the audience.)
pictures + words by eva
