Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
On Wednesday night in Nashville, The Wonder Years brought their 10-year anniversary tour for No Closer to Heaven to a packed room, revisiting one of the most grief-heavy records in their catalog. The bill felt deliberately nostalgic, with support from pop punk mainstays, Knuckle Puck, who toured with them on the original run.
The Ohio-based emo band Equipment opened the night, warming up the crowd with a set that balanced shimmering guitars with the kind of urgency that fits naturally alongside The Wonder Years’ catalog.
But the night ultimately belonged to No Closer to Heaven itself. Rather than follow the album’s exact sequencing, their set was opened with the acoustic title track, a song that originally closed the album. They also worked in the bonus track “Slow Dancing With San Andreas” in between “The Bluest Things on Earth” and “A Song for Earnest Hemingway”.
During their set, lead singer Dan Campbell took a moment to reflect on the writer’s block that brought about the record and the difficulty that came with following up their last release. Watching the feedback of energy amongst the band and the crowd, its easy to see that they relate to every word.
Later in the night, Dan also reflected on online comments, wondering when the band got “so political”, when it’s been their stance their whole career. He explained that the track “Stained Glass Ceilings” is “about the way capitalism weaponizes white supremacy and religion to divide and repress the working class”.
Following the record play through, the band took a break and came back for an encore, playing songs from across their catalog like “Passing Through a Screendoor” and the newer track, “New Lows”.
Ten years on, experiencing that album live feels ike communal catharsis. While the record doesn’t offer easy answers, the questions it asks about things like loss, guilt, and growing up are just as powerful when shouted back from a room full of people who have been carrying those songs with them for a decade.
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Lindsy Carrasquillo | @lindsy_carr
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