There are bands that have a knack for making you really think about life. They take you back to special times when you were growing up, pivotal moments where things were at their best, or times when you thought maybe the pain would never end, but somehow you found the strength to pull through. They make you think about the future, songs you daydream to, and fantasize about all the possibilities that still lie ahead. Either way, what these bands really do is hit you right in the feels. Their songs are the ones you put on, sit back, close your eyes, and let your mind go on a journey. Sometimes we sing and scream along in our cars, feeling old wounds being tugged and picked at…but somehow it feels good. Sometimes it feels good to hurt, I’m not sure why that’s the case, but it’s true for each and every one of us. I for one know that I have replayed songs simply because the part that gets me every time didn’t quite hurt me enough. These emotions are so sought after that there is an entire genre dedicated to writing songs that evoke them…we call it emo. Emo comes in many forms and each of them is phenomenally good for pondering life and all of its circumstances, which brings me to my story of “The Hum Goes on Tour”.
On an unusually cold and windy winter day in phoenix Arizona, three pop punk/emo/post-emo bands gathered for a show that would leave its attendees reeling from the emotional onslaught that is “The Hum Goes on Forever Tour”. This tour boasts a fantastic lineup consisting of Carly Cosgrove, Hot Mulligan, and The Wonder Years, this tour lineup couldn’t have been chosen more perfectly. Each band complimented one another beautifully. When I got to the venue, I could feel the electricity in the air. I could feel that this night was going to be one for the books. A lot of people like to talk shit about Emo/Pop Punk music, but I can tell you right now that NOBODY goes harder than pop-punk/emo fans. That statement held true tonight as much as it had on any other occasion that I’ve been to a show in this scene.
Carly Cosgrove came on stage at 7:30 pm sharp and I was truly surprised how many of the fans in the crowd not only knew this band but absolutely loved them. If you don’t know, Carly Cosgrove is a Nickelodeon-themed emo band and their name is a play on the name of a fictional TV show from an early 2000’s Nickelodeon show called “iCarly” in which the main character (Carly) is played by actress Miranda Cosgrove. There were fans in the crowd wearing white shirts bearing the phrase “Fuck Dan Schneider” (the producer of many popular Nickelodeon shows who recently came under fire for allegations of sexualizing child stars in his shows, assaulting staff writers, and being an overall creep) written in black sharpie (the bands bass drum also geared this beautiful sentiment), fans even flags of the lovable iCarly character Gibby with a photo of his famous “What are you a cop?” scene. The band opened their set with their hit song “Munk” from their LP “See You In Chemistry”. Within the first couple of songs, I had already spotted a couple of crowd surfers. The mosh pits were warming up and slowly getting moving, and I could tell this was going to be a fun show. Carly Cosgrove is a fun band with a light-hearted and affable presence that provided a fun, welcoming atmosphere serving as a great icebreaker. They got this crowd up and on their feet. The entire room was grooving along to their entire set and they really got attendees ready for what was coming next.
During set up, Hot Mulligan came out for a quick sound check and then disappeared backstage for about ten minutes before returning to play their set. The few times I have seen this band live they have seemed to draw the largest crowds out of any band playing the show. Over the last couple of years, they have become one of the hottest new bands to come onto the scene. Although they’ve been around since 2015 their most recent LP, You’ll Be Fine has skyrocketed them to the forefront of the emo scene. With influences ranging from Alternative to pop-punk to emo, Hot Mulligan self-identifies as the world’s first “Post Emo” band. The band came out that night and opened with “OG Blue Sky” and then jumped into their biggest hit “*Equip Sunglasses*”. Hot Mulligan took things to the next level and bombarded the crowd with endless energy and great tunes. They played an astounding set that pulled songs from each of their LPs and many from their EPs. Songs like “Featuring Mark Hoppus”, “Drink Milk and Run”, “Heem Wasn’t There”, and “How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells?”. Halfway through the set, there were a couple of very special moments, one included a brand-new song (which unfortunately didn’t come with a name). At one point vocalist, Tades Sanville came out with an acoustic guitar and talked about a song that he had written when his father passed away, he played a solo acoustic rendition of “Heem Wasn’t There”. That song hit quite a few people in the crowd pretty hard…myself included. I have been listening to that song at least once a day since my grandfather passed away in November, so it was hard, but it felt good to hear it live. One of those moments where you truly feel you’re not alone in your grief, as different as it may be from other experiences, in the end, we are facing many of the same hardships. Before Hot Mulligan departed for the night, Sanville thanked and praised the other bands on the tour: “Couple things I gotta say! Carly Cosgrove is a dope fuckin Band! Thank you, mother fuckin Wonder Years for taking us on tour, and lastly…it’s time to play…in the backyard”. This led to one of their most loved songs, my personal favorite, “BCKYRD”. This song always gets the most interaction from the crowd, I can still hear them finishing out the song on their own as Tades stood at the front of the stage with a mic hanging from his outstretched arm.
Here we were, we had made it to the main event. The Wonder Years were up next and the crowd was well warmed up. This band drew such a phenomenal crowd that night. I had personally not heard of The Wonder Years until recently so I was blown away at just how popular they were. The band came out in the darkness and a solitary light illuminated vocalist Dan Campbell who was dressed in a pair of Dickies Coveralls and a baseball cap. He stood at the front of the stage holding the mic stand and singing the opening song of their latest album The Hum Goes on Forever, “Doors I Painted Shut”. They followed with the second song off the same album, “Wyatts Song”. After that their set went into full swing. It was quite surprising how a pop-punk/emo band had put on such a power-packed show. I have seen many bands (including the very biggest) of the genre and this show was on par with some of the greats. The Wonder Years had taken the energy the Hot Mulligan had left ricocheting off the walls and multiplied it tenfold. They played a massive setlist consisting of 20 songs that ranged from their earliest album The Upsides to their latest album The Hum Goes on Forever. They played most of their biggest songs including “Cardinals”, “Sister Cities”, “Passing Through the Screen Door”, and “Cigarettes and Saints”. The Wonder Years closed out the set with an encore of their song “Came out Swinging”. I had counted over 40 crow surfers at this show and there wasn’t a single moment where the crowd wasn’t absolutely going nuts. By the end of it all, this crowd was exhausted and spent.
After having some laughs and jamming out with Carly Cosgrove, reminiscing about the death of childhood naivete and innocence with Hot Mulligan, and pouring our souls out over life, love, loss, and the human condition with The Wonder Years, I don’t think there was a single person in attendance who wasn’t left in a state of emotionally charged bewilderment at the torrent of emotions that they had just experienced. Life had come at us over the years like a bully for our lunch money, and bands like these have a knack for taking us on a cathartic healing journey through all we have lived through. I relived moments of past loves, lost friends, the moments of feeling like I had no direction, or where I felt I was wasting the only life I had, but I faced these problems head on and music like this was how I got through it. Being able to sing and scream along with lyrics that expressed the feelings I felt in those moments really allow me to see those occasions in a different light. Today I am able to look back on these moments with an odd level of fondness…I see them as the moments that taught me the greatest lessons and ended up making me a better person overall. These bands will always serve a much greater purpose to people like myself than just entertainment. They fill a void in my life that was created by years of trauma at the hands of an abusive and unfair system. I may not have asked to have been born, but music like this makes dealing with life much more tolerable. These gatherings we call “concerts”, are more than just a collection of fans coming to dance and sing along. They are gatherings that promote community, healing, togetherness, and empathy. Which is why I think everyone needs to experience events like this. If you have the chance to catch this tour before it’s over, I highly recommend doing so…we might not all be as damaged as the person next to us, but the simple fact remains: we could all use a little healing in our lives.
