NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
Can you believe the members of the Wallows are turning thirty(!!!) next year? Yeah, neither can I. It seems like they were just a bunch of kids, including that high school kid actor, when they released “Pleaser” but I suppose that’s already eight years ago so…. The band turned out not to be a flash-in-the-pan, driven by a teen idol, but has been making consistently good alternative rock over those eight years. Anyway, they’re on a tour across the U.S. to support their third studio album Model (May 2024) and More (March 2025) and stopped in Buffalo for the very first time at the Outer Banks Terminal B on June 3rd. The line that formed before doors opened was absolutely insane so it was sure to be an amazing show!
Opening the concert was New York indie band Porches, a name I hadn’t heard in a few years. One of the many projects of Aaron Maine, I last saw them at East River Park in NYC in 2018. The lineup has been a series of revolving doors with only Maine and guitarist Dan English remaining from their 2018 lineup. That doesn’t mean that the band has been quiet as evidenced by the release of their studio album Shirt in 2024 and an EP Scrap and Love Songs Revisited last month. This meant they were able to play some new songs as well as old, although Maine was self-deprecating when he joked that “you’ve probably never heard the old stuff so it’s all new”. They still rocked the house and the audience were at least polite enough to cheer enthusiastically. Given the crowd of young ladies at the barricade, we knew who they were there to see.
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The sky was starting to turn dark when Wallows took the stage to a huge scream from the audience….my poor ears! The adoration for guitarist Braeden Lemasters was almost (but not quite) as loud as for Dylan Minnette (no jokes about thirteen reasons why) while drummer Cole Preston quietly slipped behind his drum kit as the rest of the touring band took the stage. They kicked off their set with “Anytime, Always” from their latest record before going back in time to “Scrawny” from their debut studio album Nothing Happens. If there was any doubt that the duo of Minnette and Lemasters were masters at working the crowd, that was quickly dissipated. Very aware of his effect on his fans, Minnette would come towards them by standing on the speakers in front of the barricade, then draw back, making sure he showed some love to everyone in front. When Lemasters was the lead vocalist on a song, Minnette would step back out of the spotlight, ceding that attention to his bandmate. Wallows made sure to acknowledge the city they were in, giving shoutouts to Buffalo, to the Bills, and to Josh Allen as well as playing “Canada”, being so close to the border. In fact, when Minnette asked the audience how many were Canadian, a huge cheer went up! Obviously “elbows up” at a Wallows concert means reaching out towards your favorite band!
All in all, Wallows played an incredible twenty-two song set, with a nice mix of songs from throughout their young careers, and had their fans singing and dancing along. They closed out their set with three fan favorites from that debut album: “I Don’t Want to Talk”, “Are You Bored Yet?”, and “Only Friend”, before leaving the crowd to dissipate into the dark night at the Outer Harbor.
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