There’s something electric about catching a musical act on the rise when you know their breakout is imminent, and that electricity was in the air in the Crescent Ballroom.
At the venue, the indie-pop band almost monday took to the stage and delivered a dynamite hour-long set as the opening act for headliners Beach Weather. The band, made up of San Diego natives Dawson Daugherty on vocals, Luke Fabry on guitar, and Cole Clisby on bass, immediately caught the crowd’s attention and kept the momentum going with a highly dynamic rendition of their new single “is it too late?”
The Crescent Ballroom was the perfect venue for the occasion, an intimate yet expansive room that made the performance personal without feeling cramped. The buzz was palpable from the moment you entered the room, and that energy didn’t dip once during the performance.
The main reason that energy remained at a fever pitch for the whole show was Dawson Daugherty’s brilliant performance as the frontman. He simply looked like a star, and his carefree attitude set the tone for the entirety of the set. He moved like a cartoon character, with charming idiosyncrasies that did even more to endear the audience than his great voice. One could not keep count of how many times he fixed his hair within the first ten minutes of the show.
Daugherty’s command of the stage was obvious to everyone in the building. Each call and response he did with the audience invigorated the performance. He even busted out a harmonica for a quick solo during the band's cover of The Romantics’ “What I like About You.” Luke Fabry and Cole Clisby on guitar and bass respectively were no slouches either, providing the perfect support to Daughterty’s frontman antics.
During an interview with Blaze, guitarist Luke Fabry mentioned that the band loves playing festivals, in part because “that was the first time we heard people singing along to our music at a show, which was surreal.” That occurrence is commonplace now for the group as they’ve established a strong following which was on full display during this latest performance.
Overall, If you’re big in the indie scene get in on the ground floor with almost monday while you still can. The band has teased that their first full length album will be coming later this year, and it’s easy to see a future where the release sends them on a meteoric rise through the indie pop landscape. If you want to learn more about them, their website can be found here.