Walk the Moon with Family of the Year at Trees Dallas

Friday, November 9th at Trees Dallas, I had the fantastic pleasure of seeing Walk the Moon with Family of the Year.

Trees in Deep Ellum is a great venue, and this was hands down the best show I have seen there! When I arrived for the opening act, Family of the Year, the place was already as full as I have ever seen it.  I had only gotten a chance to listen to one or two of their songs and I was not truly sure if their music was for me, but their energetic set was pretty hard to ignore. They sang about 45 minutes and made the most of the absolutely tiny space allotted them on the stage. This band is based out of LA and consists of  brothers, Joe and Sebastian Keefe, James Buckey , and Christina Schroeter.  Joe and Christina do a lot of the vocals, but what is the signature of this band is lots of harmonizing, so everyone one of them is singing at some point.  They were entertaining and their vocals were strong and infectious. I sincerely enjoyed the energy of drummer Sebastian.  he was giving it everything he had, and it was fantastic.  They performed songs such as “St. Croix,” “Living on Love” and they ended the 45 minute set with “In the End.” If you are a fan of bands like Local Natives, or even Phoenix,  check out this group and you will not be disappointed!

The crowd absolutely loved the performance from Famil,y and it was a fantastic way to fire up everyone for Walk the Moon.  I had been listening to their self-titled debut album all day before the show.  I really like all the tracks, and I was excited to enjoy the energetic songs and endless drumming.   However, nothing could have prepared me for the performance I witnessed.  When the band walked on stage, the wall to wall crowd went nuts.  The show started with, not a bang, but with keyboards and drums, lots and lots of drums!! I loved the way they presented their super rhythmic songs with extra drums.  There, of course, was the main drummer, Sean Waugaman, but lead singer Nicholas Petricca and Eli Mainman had a drum too. That combined with great guitar work from Kevin Ray made the next hour and fifteen minutes non-stop fun, dancing, jumping, cheering, and smiles.  The completely loyal sea of fans sang back every word of every song they could, as well as constantly showering the group with souvenirs that related to song titles, lyrics, or videos.  I noticed how just about everyone in the audience appeared to have paint on their faces, and when the band came on stage they had their face painted as well.  After reading about the band more, I found out this is a tradition for them at every show. I had the luck of getting to be on the stage for the last three songs of the set which finished with “Anna Sun” and then the encore of “I Can Lift a Car.”  Thanks again to their manger for the invite.  I had an absolute blast watching them have what seemed to be the time of their lives, seeing a sea of fans just not able to get enough, and then on top of that great, great music!

The two groups are on tour for many more shows, and the combo of the two is what makes for a great night of music.  if you have a chance, get your ass to one of their shows!

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Review and Photos by Reanna Streater