NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
To say that Grouplove is one of my favorite bands is an understatement. They have always been such a fun act, seeming to enjoy every moment on the stage and off. In fact, just thinking about attending one of their shows brings a non-stop smile to my face. Their current “ Rock and Roll You Won’t Save Me” tour is really their first headlining tour to support their sixth studio album, 2023’s “I Want It All Right Now”, since they spent much of the second half of 2023 touring with Pink. And although their fans wanted the tour “right now”. Can’t have everything! One thing I was looking for was some of Hannah Hooper’s artwork which she was going to sell at the merch table. Unfortunately, someone from the VIP entry grabbed both items before doors. C’est la vie.
Opening for Grouplove was Nashville-based rock band Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno). We caught Bully at Lee’s Palace in Toronto last September and, while she normally performs as a four-piece band, Bognanno is performing solo on this tour. In fact, she’s playing keyboards live for the first time! Also, Bully has collaborated with Blondshell, a wonderful indie artist from NYC. As of today (Mar 26th), they’ve released “Docket“. Go take a listen!
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a solo Bully set since her songs are usually a hard rocking sonic explosion. I was sure pleasantly surprised. What used to sounds like a gruff screaming vocal with a full band, as a solo performer, Alicia’s voice sounds like an aching longing cry against the backdrop of her guitar and keyboards. Beautiful. The only hiccup was when the strap on her guitar came loose in the middle of a song. Luckily, she did not drop the guitar. And to the guy yelling “strap lock”, stop mansplaining to a professional.
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I’m tempted to just allow the Grouplove photos to speak for themselves. As with all of their shows, it was high energy and so much fun. Now that Hannah Hooper, vocalist (no longer keyboardist since they have added a separate keyboard player) and artist extraordinaire, has grown out her hair, it was a headbanging affair throughout the show. Guitarist and vocalist (don’t forget husband to Hannah and father to Willa) Christian Zucconi even had a fan keeping his hair flying the whole night! With guitarist Andrew Wessen and bassist Daniel Gleason bouncing around the stage and drummer Ben Homola pounding the drums like he was angry at them, my heart was racing the whole set!
Grouplove opened their evening with “Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten” from their debut studio album “Never Trust a Happy Song”. Oddly enough, there were only four songs from their latest record in their massive twenty-two song setlist. The bulk of the songs were from their first two albums but they did play “Chances”, their latest single released just before the tour kicked off. There wasn’t a whole lot of chit-chatting between songs but Hooper did encourage everyone to go hime, grab a doobie, and make some art. They also mentioned they were playing in Philadelphia the following day, eliciting loud boos from the crowd. Oops. One thing they’ve stopped doing in the classic, fun, dreaded shoey, where Gleason drink a beer from his shoe. I guess it was fun for awhile but time to retire it. Grouplove closed out with an amazing three song encore, finishing with “Colours” from their very first self-titled EP which came out….gasp…fourteen years ago!!!
When this tour ends, the band will get a well-deserved rest before hitting some festivals and re-joining Pink on a few stops late in the year. Since they’ve already released a new single this year, I’m hoping for a new record in the next twelve months so I can plan on seeing them in 2025!
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