The up-and-coming Australian band, Vacations continues their TOURZILLA tour alongside their co-headliner Last Dinosaurs in Philadelphia at Union Transfer. The band has been making music since 2015 and has gone viral after their 2016 song “Young” went viral on TikTok. They have since gained over 400 million streams on Spotify alone and received a certified gold single in the US! The indie rock band has had an incredible year so far and is currently taking their first US tour.
Prior to the start of the tour, Vacations posted on their Instagram telling the fans the theme of TOURZILLA was movies, giving a dress code of dressing as your favorite movie character. The fans did not disappoint one bit. Many fans went all out, some even dressing as Shrek with their face painted green or with Batman masks.
Walking into the venue we were greeted by Eliza McLamb performing her opening set. Though we missed part of her set, I was thoroughly impressed with her performance. Eliza’s discography is full of softer indie hits mixed with rock with beautiful production, almost better live. If you enjoy Leith Ross, with a little more rock you’ll love Eliza McLamb. I only heard Eliza’s last couple of songs live but I adored her performance and hope to see her again soon!
Before last dinosaurs set, I really took in the energy of the crowd; it was full of people of all ages, young and old, who wanted to see some of their favorite songs performed live. The crowd was large and filled with energy, building up with anticipation as the stage was being set up for Last Dinosaurs’ performance.
The lights were dimmed and the crowd cheered. The band opened with their song “Eleven” following a couple of fans doing a countdown before the guys filed on stage. Last Dinosaurs is an indie rock band with an astounding stage presence. They opened their set with their song “Put Up with the Weather”, a song that feels like summer with an 80's vibe to it. Immediately the crowd jumped, danced around, and shouted all their lyrics, not missing a single beat. For a crowd with such a wide range of people, I was amazed by how much energy they had. Besides the crowd, the Dinosaurs put on an incredible performance. With three members both singing and playing their guitars, they dominated the night. Not to mention the drummer absolutely killed it. Each member has a unique sound to their voice but they all blended together perfectly when they sang together; hitting harmonies that flowed together to create a heavenly During their entire set, the band had impeccable stage presence and interacted with the crowd as much as they could, really pulling their whole performance together. Overall I was super impressed with the energy radiating through the room
Last Dinosaurs exited the stage and the anticipation and excitement continued to build up as time went on. A couple of crew members added the final touches to the stage then the moment was here. The crowd roared with cheers echoing through the room. The Vacations band filed on stage and began performing their song, “Moving Out”, an amazing song to open with. It has a super dreamy feel to it yet still lets the crowd go wild. I take in the band's music, shooting a glance at the crowd. Smiles were plastered on every single face in the crowd. Each fan has unique struggles going on in their life, yet they all came here to the show and sang their hearts out. I haven’t been to many shows with such a unique energy. As somebody who dresses up often for shows, it was beautiful (and kind of funny)
to see people go so all out with their costumes
as the band requested them to.
As the night continued, Vacations gave the show their all. Each member had the perfect amount of crowd interaction, while still keeping some their moments for themselves. They had lots of moments with each other, showing the crowd how much fun they were having on stage. Countless times band mates would cross the stage and play to each other, or go back to back. A couple of times the bassist did a massive jump from the drummer’s platform. All of the little moments like this made the show so much more enjoyable just by radiating the band’s joy through the room. Soon the moment I was waiting for was here. “I’ll give this one more try”, they sang as they started their song “Next Exit”. A smile was immediately plastered on my face. If you couldn’t tell this has been my favorite song recently. Between the guitar, the vocals, and the pure essence of the song it was just something so refreshing to hear live. The men continued an astounding performance as the crowd returned the same energy. The night went on with lots of jumping, dancing, and smiles.
In the blink of an eye, the night came to an end. Vacations ended their set with their hit song, “Young”, ending the performance on a perfect note. The show was an incredible performance from such a talented group of artists. All three artists had such amazing crowd control and an even better stage presence. The night was something truly unforgettable, for me both from a photographer's perspective and a fan's perspective. Both Vacations and Last Dinosaurs showed fans from all over how to let everything happening in life go for a night and just have fun. This lineup was amazing and I highly suggest adding these artists to your list of shows to go see live!
Words and Photos by Olivia Cardona (IG: @capture.the.mind)
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