Walk the Moon headlined in Houston for the first time on Tuesday. | Cara Smith/The Daily Cougar
Breathing a new degree of life and passion into their already vivacious music, indie rock quartet Walk the Moon partied hard with fans during their Tuesday night show in Houston.
It was a steep request to find a person with both feet on the ground at the same time as the brilliant lighting from the band’s wildly luminescent stage illuminated the faces of long-suffering fans.
Tuesday night was Walk the Moon’s first headlining concert in Houston, and it was evident to all that the band had gained a significant hold on many a Houstonian’s heart.
Throughout the show, the guys consistently referred to the concert as a “Walk the Moon party,” and that punk energy perforated nearly every kind of fan who filled the House of Blues on Tuesday. Having released only one full album, which was self-titled, the band has endless potential for growth — but one would be remiss in saying that they had a whole lot to improve upon.
For being a band in its infancy, Walk the Moon has achieved more technically and stylistically than many of its industry peers. It’s taken a genre burgeoning in popularity — indie rock — and infused it with a swirling electro flavor that truly serves to separate them from the pack.
Opening up the set with “Quesadilla,” the self-titled album’s opener, glistening guitar riffs and an awesomely eccentric Nicholas Petricca welcomed the crowded standing room. Petricca, the band’s lead vocalist, pounded on his keys throughout the entire performance, only stopping to take up a set of drumsticks and hammer on a standalone drum.
“Next In Line,” a provocatively charged track, features honeyed, subtly distorted guitars playing second fiddle to a rumbling, continuous percussion pattern that permeates the entire track. Arms raised and eyes shut, the audience became entranced with the hypnotics of one of Walk the Moon’s more sultry compositions.
The guys also debuted several new tracks, which they had written this past summer. One in particular, called “Children of Summer,” brought Walk the Moon over the edge of indie pop and completely into uncharted pop-punk territory. By the final chorus, nearly everybody in attendance was chanting along to the song’s enticing hook.
Nearing the end of the performance, Petricca announced the band’s intentions to come back to Houston in 2014.
“You guys kind of rock … Thank you so much for welcoming us here tonight,” Petricca said in one of the show’s more somber moments.
“Now that we’re together, can’t we all just lose it a little bit tonight?”
