LIVE: The Wonder Years, Leeds Student Union.

James Selway
Feb 8, 2017
3 min read

WORDS: JAMES SELWAY PHOTOS: JACK BARKER

It wasn’t hard to spot. The congregation of The Wonder Years fans descending on Leeds Student Union for what was to be night of concentrated pop punk and punk rock with 4 bands playing in the space normally reserved for house, club, and pop music and the odd tab of ketamine.

First on were the punky, moody, poppy, alt rockers Tiny Moving Parts. 2nd support Trashboat said they were “a lesson in great songwriting and great performing”, and I’m inclined to agree. Within two minutes I turned to the person next to me and said, ‘these guys are really, really good’. An explosive bundle of energy, passion, and on-stage gusto. They seemed genuinely glad to be there, and although frontman Dylan Mattheisen constantly plays his guitar like he’s just now learned how to play tap guitar, bigger things clearly await them.

Next on stage were Trashboat, who definitely wear their influences on their sleeve; their music video for Strangers featuring posters from Kerrang! Magazine of bands like Paramore, Fall Out Boy, and Blink-182, but live they have a more punk rock, Enter Shikari without the electronica influence vibe. Strangers was actually one of the highlights of their set, bringing The Wonder Years Dan Campell on stage for his verse brought much cheer from the audience, and the song itself is one of the band’s best choruses and it works superbly live. They clearly had brought their own fan base to the sold out show, many of those front and centre singing along to songs from their latest release, like Brave Face, and songs off their latest EP, Brainwork, like Saving Face and Perspective with the passion that clearly went into the emotionally strong lyrics.

However the standout of the supports was the 3rd act; Toronto punk rockers PUP, supporting their second full length record, The Dream Is Over. One of the members of the punk rock scene with the most fervent fans, (there were two people in the front row during their set wearing matching homemade PUP t-shirts and showing in jokes like ‘shout out to Norman’), they payed diligent fan service rattling through an eclectic set list that covered fan favourites from both of their albums. Alternating from the light hearted melancholy of Dark Days, the out and out punk rock of Reservoir, Sleep in the Heat, a dirge for lost pets and retired cars, before ending on a rollicking double bill of the vociferous and actually occasionally funny If This Tour Doesn’t Kill Then I Will to the high octane DVP. Their evident energy and passion is infectious. When their set finishes it feels like they just came on.

Then the headline appeared to rapture, The Wonder Years. To see these 6 huge, bearded, men walk onto stage it’s easy to forget how delicate Dan Campbell’s voice can be when he wants it to, or how emotionally sensitive his lyrics, or how charismatic he can be as a stage presence. His energy and incessant spinning is really what carries the set and makes it memorable, which ends up being both melancholy and full of gusto, like the best of The Wonder Years songs. Ending on a sweet, melancholy, acoustic rendition of The Devil In My Bloodstream, before a torrent of balloons on Palm Reader, before two of their best songs with Passing Through A Screen Door and Came Out Swinging. In a way, The Wonder Years are carried by the energy of their songs and their frontman, they’re not in the top tier of live bands, but if you’re a fan, there’s a lot of fun to be had.