Walk the Moon urges audience members at Crescent Ballroom to clap their hands to the beat. (Photo courtesy of KJ Mark)Dance-indie superstars Walk the Moon treated a sold-out Crescent Ballroom to a psychedelic party on Monday.
Veterans Day brought the crowds to downtown Phoenix as the venue filled up for the first band, Family of the Year.
The band launched immediately into its folksy set. Female keyboardist Christina Schroeter spoke to the crowd between songs to encourage the positive energy that they were giving off. Family of the Year dipped into extremely indie territory with a few songs, but mostly entertained the mellow audience with its danceable tunes.
Despite the fact that people were packed into the small venue space, the fans were very calm as they waited for the headlining act. Many members of the audience decked themselves out in unique, colorful face paint to match the band’s music video “Anna Sun.”
Walk the Moon jumped onstage to the screams of fans after a short wait. Starting with “The Liftaway,” the band kept the party going strong. Every song was fun, danceable and extremely catchy. The audience, regardless of age, jumped, clapped and sang along to old and new songs.
Keyboardist and lead vocalist Nicholas Petricca, guitarist Eli Maiman, bassist Kevin Ray and drummer Sean Waugaman also sported colorful face paint as they danced along to their own music.
The energy was palpable and the audience was swept up in it for the duration of the set. They moved as one when Petricca called for clapping and dancing to songs such as, “Tightrope,” “Shiver Shiver,” “Quesadilla” and “Jenny.”
The only slow-tempo moment came when Petricca took the spotlight to perform “Iscariot” on his keyboard — a moment that still had the crowd swaying and singing along.
Maiman bantered with fans between songs as the bright, multicolored lights punctuated the ethereal feeling of the band’s set.
After the final song, the group’s biggest hit “Anna Sun,” the crowd was not ready for the night to end. They called for an encore until the band re-emerged to play “I Can Lift a Car” to close out the show.
The vibe of the evening was overwhelmingly positive and energetic. Fans of all ages were happy to be there and the lights illuminated a lot of smiles throughout the evening. Walk the Moon certainly brought a celebratory atmosphere to the Veterans Day show.
Reach the reporter at okhiel@asu.edu
