The Wrecks take San Francisco

Friday June 10th was a big night for alt rock band the Wrecks. The band’s sophomore album Sonder had just been released, and their Better Than Ever tour was underway, stopping in San Francisco’s Cafe du Nord for two completely sold out shows.

While the venue was small, at a 320 person capacity, the energy was anything but. From the moment the openers, Mothé and Girlhouse, stepped onto the stage until the end of the Wrecks’ encore, you could feel the waves of excitement coming from the crowd.

The band, made up of vocalist Nick Anderson, guitarist Nick “Schmizz” Schmidt, bassist Aaron Kelley, and drummer Billy Nally, launched into their set with “Out of Style”, and from there, things just kept getting better (and sweatier, it was HOT in there). They played through several fan favorites from their previous releases, and mixed in a couple of new ones, including the title track of their second album, “Sonder”. On stage, the band’s energy was boundless, with punk jumps, spins, and at least two instances of Nick getting twisted up in his own mic cord.

The fans’ energy matched the band’s perfectly. They were singing and dancing along the whole time, rising to a volume that could probably be heard down the block during the bridge of “I Love This Part” and then again in the chorus of “Fvck Somebody”. Throughout the night, you could clearly see how much the Wrecks loved being back on stage, and how much they cared for their fans’ wellbeing, sending water bottles through the crowd multiple times to beat the rising temperature in the basement venue. They closed their set with “James Dean”, but quickly returned to finish out the night with “Infinitely Ordinary” and of course, their very first single “Favorite Liar”.

Some other highlights of the night included a crowd-surfing fan, party poppers, and a cowboy hat that we all promised Nick we wouldn’t share pictures of him wearing. The entire night was fueled by excitement, great music, and the best concert crowd I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve been looking forward to this tour from the moment it was announced in the spring, and I’m counting down the minutes until I’m back in the crowd at their Boston show later this summer.

The new Wrecks era is here, and it truly is Better Than Ever.