On October 19th, 2016, Buffalo was one of the fan chosen cities for The Summer Set on their Made For You Tour. This five-some comes out of Phoenix, AZ and are described as a jack-of-all trades group. They’re music spans the genres of alternative, emo, pop punk and even country at times. This gives fans a never ending experience with the directions they take as artists.
The venue for the evening was The Waiting room, a modern club that hosts live bands, dancing and karaoke. This Buffalo hide out has been the spot for many of alternative rocks best including Cute Is What We Aim For, Every Time I Die, Punchline and For Today. The clubs’ atmosphere is cozy, couches line the wall and an open floor plan with full view of the stage. The staff were friendly and as excited for the show as the patrons entering the building. You could feel the excitement in the room building as more people filled the building.
This tour had three acts that are taking the music scene by storm. Each have a new album released this year that grabbed lots of attention. The first of the night was Hudson Thames, a new comer out of sunny LA. After Hudson was William Beckett, a former and founding member of a old school favorite The Academy Is. Beckett opened his set with a tribute to Slim Shady by playfully remixing the classic My Name Is to include his own name, to explain in detail who he was, just in case we forgot.
When The Summer Set were finally set to take the stage, instantly the energy was electric. The building flow places the photo pits location to the right side of the stage. Helping photographers capture lighting moments that give the band members a colorful glow with the traditional “halo” effect you can find when the pit is right at the foot of the stage.
One of the biggest moments for The Summer Set becoming big in the main stream music world, was winning the 2013 Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star competition. The win allowed them to share the stage at that years award show with Sheryl Crow and The Backstreet Boys. Plus a feature performance on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Summer Sets’ set list for this tour included songs from their new album, Tales from Monday like “Figure Me Out” and “Jean Jacket”. But also old favorites from the albums Legendary and Everything’s Fine including ”The Boys You Do”, “Boomerang” and “Chelsea”. The bands music spans almost a decade and the fans in attendance were a testament to the bands popularity over the years. Constantly changing up their sound as they go to match how they grow and the experiences they’ve encountered.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this band perform twice before and this truly was the best experience I’ve had. This band is certainly top tier with showmanship no matter where they go. The venue had a great vibe that allowed everyone to be wild and free with the artists. The attendees had their “hearts in the air” by the time the pop based encore “Lightening In a Bottle” was played. If you live in Western New York, The Waiting room is a great place for music. With the tour being over now, we can only hope to see more from these artists in the new year. The tour may have ended November 2nd, but the artists that made the marquee are definitely ones you need to add to your list of future shows.
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Review and photography by Clarice Owens, RockRevolt Photojournalist
