Images: The Wonder Years, The Story So Far, Modern Baseball, Gnarwolves October 21, 2014 at Hard Rock Live

With a series of critically acclaimed albums under their belt, The Wonder Years could please a crowd just by coming out and playing the hits. Is anyone really going to complain about hearing “Logan Circle” one more time? But that’s not really who The Wonder Years are, and we’re lucky for it. As frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell pointed out – this is a band that started out playing coffee shops and VFW Halls, and you could tell they appreciated every moment of their headlining gig at Hard Rock Live, with their name in lights over the Vegas Strip.

This was The Wonder Years’ first headlining gig in Las Vegas since they were supporting sophomore release The Upsides in 2011, and the crowd greeted them with thunderous applause immediately upon their entrance to the stage. The band wasted no time, launching into a 15 song setlist that spanned their entire career, with the lesser known tracks given just as much care as the more popular songs. Things kicked off with a great one two punch – “Dismantling Summer” right into “Don’t Let Me Cave In.” The energy was through the roof and wave after wave of crowd surfers were spotted getting a second or two of mic time with Soupy, all trying to land on the small stage in time for the coveted “You drove me all the way back” line. And while the crowd certainly didn’t need any extra motivation to sing along, Soupy pushing his mic out during The Greatest Generation opener “There, There” did get things a few decibels higher, so much so that I’m sure the people eating at the Denny’s downstairs must have taken notice.

The highlight of the set for me came when Campbell said they’d be playing some songs they don’t normally play live. Included in this batch were Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing bonus track “My Life as Rob Gordon” (“how much more obscure can we get?” asked Campbell), Upsides oft-overlooked gem “New Year’s Eve With Carl Weathers” and “Won’t Be Pathetic Forever” from the 7” of the same name, with the song’s “I refuse to sink” line becoming something of an inspirational mantra for the band and it’s fans.

Playing right before The Wonder Years and to just as much excitement was The Story So Far, who kicked things off with “Empty Space.” The Story So Far have some of the most dedicated fans of any band out there today and it’s been awesome watching that fanbase grow from their first Vegas show at the Box Office in 2011 to where they are today. Nothing is ever going to compare to their epic set at the Eagle Hall last year, but seeing a few hundred young fans shouting out the words to “Quicksand,” “Roam” and “680 South” at this show comes pretty close. I was happy that they ended with “High Regard,” which is by far my favorite song of theirs. The band has made the news a few times due to altercations with security guards, so I thought it was a nice touch that I saw the band communicating with the guards as to what to expect and how they want things handled during their set to avoid any kids getting hurt, and when a fight did break out, I saw them pull a guard over to make sure the fans were ok, which speaks a lot to their character.

Modern Baseball proved they were already a crowd favorite on this, their Vegas debut. The audience needed no prompting to sing along with “Fine, Great,” “Apartment” and “The Old Gospel Choir.” The voices from the crowd were near deafening in the best way possible, creating an infectious energy that spread throughout the room. If you’ve never heard Modern Baseball, they’re basically like Motion City Soundtrack meets Saves the Day, a sort of emo/pop punk hybrid that is as catchy as it is artfully written. The highlight of the band’s set came with the final song, in which drummer Sean Huber stepped out from behind the kit and jumped onto the barrier for his vocal performance on the band’s “Your Graduation.” Huber also fronts the band Steady Hands and if you haven’t heard them yet I highly recommend checking them out.

The first band to hit the stage this night was Gnarwolves, and though the opening band would normally be playing to a small crowd, the Hard Rock Live was already packed. The band has been making a name for themselves across the pond, having opened for Blink 182 and playing the main stage of Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2014. On this tour they were the underdogs, but a small pocket of fans in the room were ready to sing along with “Coffee,” “Everything You Think You Know” and especially “History of Bunk,” the latter getting the first pit going of the night. I didn’t know what to expect with these guys and right from the start I was blown away by how much they reminded me of two of my favorite bands – A Wilhelm Scream and Red City Radio – with their gruff vocals and fast tempos. This is one band I could just as easily imagine playing Punk Rock Bowling next year as I could see them playing Warped, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that.

-Emily Matview

Photos by Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/

The Wonder Years setlist:

Dismantling Summer
Don’t Let Me Cave In
There, There
Passing Through a Screen Door
An American Religion (FSF)
Washington Square Park
I Won’t Say the Lord’s Prayer
Melrose Diner
Won’t Be Pathetic Forever
My Life as Rob Gordon
Local Man Ruins Everything
New Years with Carl Weathers
The Devil In My Bloodstream
Came Out Swinging

Encore:
I Just Want to Sell Out My Funeral

The Story So Far setlist:

Empty Space
Quicksand
Things I Can’t Change
Daughters
Stifled
Swords and Pens
All Wrong
Bad Luck
Roam
Right Here
680 South
The Glass
High Regard