On April 7th, Asheville’s Wednesday released their new album Rat Saw God via Dead Oceans to critical acclaim and a lot of fanfare for the up and coming band. On Wednesday night, the band kicked off their US tour behind the new album in Atlanta at Terminal West alongside friends Cryogeyser and Draag.
The hype was real for this show, and the venue was packed out early with a crowd ready to dance and rock hard. And lucky for Atlanta, this was a killer lineup top to bottom.
After finishing up a headline tour of their own in North Carolina, LA-based Cryogeyser is joining Wednesday on the first leg of this tour as they head back towards Los Angeles. For the Atlanta show, they also brought their friends and tourmates on that headlining tour, Draag, a new buzzworthy band also out of LA. With Draag set to release their debut album, Dark Fire Heresy, a few days later, they were the perfect addition to the Atlanta lineup. The band quickly showed off their experimental shoegaze sound with loud, bursting soundscapes that filled the venue. While Draag may give plenty of nods to the shoegaze greats of the past, this is a band with a unique sound of their own. It was a blissful set from Draag that showed why this has been a buzz band leading up to their debut. And now you can listen to their debut album wherever you listen to music.
By the time Cryogeyser took the stage, there was a lot of love in the air. You could tell how excited the band was to reunite with Wednesday on tour, while having their friends Draag opening up. There was a lot of mutual respect here. And for good reason. Cryogeyser is the perfect companion to Wednesday, bringing their own mix of dreampop, shoegaze and grunge. Yet, in a similar vein to Wednesday, Cryogeyser has elements of folk in their songs, telling stories behind the raspy vocals of frontwoman Shawn Marom. With one full length album, two 8 song EPs, and more singles since 2019, Cryogeyser has shown to be another strong buzzworthy indie band and certainly took charge of the Terminal West stage!
By the time Wednesday took the stage, the crowd was hype and ready to see what all the talk was about. Led by frontwoman Karly Hartzman, Wednesday has been going hard since releasing their first album in 2018. Since then, the band released an album in 2020, 2021, a covers album in 2022, before reaching a crescendo this year with the release of Rat Saw God. Wednesday has it all: great songwriting, talented band, with a unique sound featuring everything from shoegaze, grunge, and folk rock. The songwriting itself would standout within the folk genre, yet the band truly rocks out. The term country grunge has been used before, and after seeing them live, that seems fitting. The band not only features Karly’s stunning and relatable songwriting, but also features Jake Lenderman on guitar, another Asheville based artist who has had all the indieheads going crazy, releasing one of 2022’s best albums as MJ Lenderman with a somewhat similar country grunge sound. Between Karly and Jake, either of them can easily switch between being one of the best songwriters around right now, and completely rocking out within the same song or next song, making Wednesday, one of the most talented bands going right now.
The show in Atlanta itself was the first of a big tour for Wednesday that extends into June, crisscrossing the country, hitting Europe, and then returning for a hometown show at the beginning of July. And this show was full of compelling moments that make you love this band even more. There was forgotten lyrics, guitar straps that needed switching and other little minor hiccups and kinks being worked out, which truly only made it that much better. The band was loud, heavy, and soft all at the same time as they ripped through songs old and new. Eventually the band setup the last song, “Bull Believer” where Karly said that this would be the last song because the ending does something to her voice, and she wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye at the end of the song. You know, the part at the end of the song where she screams an otherworldly scream. Well when it got to that point, Karly sort of stopped the song, preparing herself before the band jumped back in and she absolutely let it rip, for a long scream that’s infallible how she held it that long. I’m talking goosebumps like no other. Holy hell it was good. And despite saying that would be the last song, Karly decided she did in fact have another one in her, as they jumped into one more to close out the night. This was truly a special evening with what just may be one of the best bands in the world going right now. Do not miss Wednesday this tour. What a show!
Check out photos below from Wednesday, Cryogeyser, and Draag performing live at Terminal West in Atlanta, GA on Wednesday, April 26th, 2023, all photos by Mike Gerry:
DRAAG
CRYOGEYSER
WEDNESDAY
WEDNESDAY ONLINE:
WEBSITE // BANDCAMP // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM // TWITTER
UPCOMING WEDNESDAY TOUR DATES:
4/28 – New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa *
4/30 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada *
5/1 – Austin, TX – Mohawk *
5/3 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister *
5/4 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress *
5/5 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom !
5/6 – San Francisco, CA – Independent *
5/8 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios * – SOLD OUT
5/9 – Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret *
5/10 – Seattle, WA – Neumos *
5/11 – Spokane, WA – Lucky You Lounge *
5/12-14 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party
5/13 – Boise, ID – The Shredder *~
5/15 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge *
5/17 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar *
5/18 – St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway *
5/19 – Little Rock, AR – Stickyz Rock N Roll Chicken Shack *
5/20 – Memphis, TN – Growlers *
5/21 – Nashville, TN – Basement East *
5/27 – Berlin, DE – Schokoladen- SOLD OUT
5/28 – Groningen, NL – Vera
5/29 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso Upstairs
5/31 – Brussels, BE – Botanique
6/1 – Paris, FR – L’International
6/3 – Barcelona, ES – Primavera Sound
6/5 – Manchester, UK – YES Basement – SOLD OUT
6/6 – London, UK – The Lexington – SOLD OUT
6/7 – Bristol, UK – Rough Trade
6/9 – Porto, PT – Primavera Sound
6/10 – Madrid, ES – Primavera Sound
6/11 – Madrid, ES – Primavera in the City
6/15 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre #
6/16 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle #
6/17 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer @#
6/18 – Washington, DC – Black Cat #
6/20 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg # – SOLD OUT
6/21 – Cambridge, MA – Sinclair #
6/22 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz #
6/23 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern #
6/24 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme %
6/26 – Chicago, IL – Metro #$
6/27 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club #
6/28 – Minneapolis, MN – Turf Club #
6/30 – Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups #
7/1 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel #^
* w/ Cryogeyser
! w/ Toner
# w/ Tenci
% w/ Advance Base
@ w/ All Dogs
~ w/ Mannequin Pussy
$ w/ Squirrel Flower
^ w/ Lomelda
