Touring across the country and globe with his debut solo album, performer, actor, and musician Finn Wolfhard brought the Objection! Tour to the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 8.
There’s a pretty decent chance you know who Finn Wolfhard is… even if you don’t know that you know. With acting credits spanning some of the largest horror and supernatural franchises of pop culture today, accredited with a litany of voice acting roles, and a previous member of a series of successful musical pursuits throughout the years, Wolfhard has certainly found his calling in performance and creation– and he has shown no signs of stopping yet, given the release of his debut solo album Happy Birthday this past June.
Beginning just one day prior to the album’s release, Wolfhard embarked upon a winding world tour alongside support and touring band The Slaps to celebrate the record. Beginning with a litany of dates across the west coast, night four of his east coast leg landed him within the walls of Brooklyn’s own Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Having been introduced to The Slaps during their supporting stint of Sarah and the Sundays’ North American tour at Irving Plaza this past March, their double duty as openers and members of Wolfhard’s backing band held quite a lot of promise as a fan of their work… and hope, as the aforementioned date featured an impromptu acoustic set due to their drummer’s unfortunate absence from the evening and a rather chatty crowd that seemed to contest with the mellower tone throughout their set.
All semblances of concern, however, were promptly torn to shreds as the full unit took to the stage at 8:00 p.m. with no holds barred- immediately the Music Hall was filled with gut-punch drum kicks and impactfully shout-sang verses. It can’t be understated how much more stunning their sound is live (as any listener to their Audiotree recordings can attest). Tracks like “Fool” glow when performed before an audience. The vocal dissonance landed right in the pocket of slightly uncomfortable and strikingly satisfying, setting an incredible precedent for the rest of the evening.
There was a certain cool to how the members managed the in-between moments of their set, meandering through tidbits of thoughts or simply offering existentials– like one question prompted by guitarist and vocalist Rand Kelly after a particularly ripping yet hazy shoegaze-tinged track, who simply prompted: “Does anyone know anything?” to which… a concerning yet comedically small smattering of hands were raised.
Following with a personal favorite, drummer Josh Resing stood from his kit and delivered a honey-warm rendition of “Being Around” while Kelly and bassist Ramsey Bell took the reins of the instrumental, resting upon amps and positively captivating the audience all the while.
Eventually The Slaps’ setlist had reached its end, leaving the audience to chat amongst themselves and appreciate arguably one of the most underrated parts of the concertgoing experience: the pre-show and interlude playlist. It’s quite literally a list of song recommendations straight from your favorite artist! Some personal picks from the list included Dirty Hands by Black Lips and Helpless by The Cleaners From Venus, the latter of which startled a smile out of me upon recognition.
Bounding back on to the stage at a few minutes past 9:00 p.m., The Slaps returned to their positions as Wolfhard walked to center stage, pausing momentarily to take his baseball hat off and get settled. Soon, their triumphant horn-heavy walk-on music gave way to the opening twang of “Everytown there’s a darling.” While remaining in the relative zone of cozy in its recorded version, “Everytown” live exploded. Wolfhard wasted no time in establishing the tone for the evening as he built the titular lyric until it was less of a mantra and more of a declarative shout.
The setlist carried right into “Objection!” as spiraling florets of light bounced around the audience and the ceiling. Having already accompanied Wolfhard along the first leg of the Objections! tour, The Slaps and Wolfhard as a unit (in addition to Gep Repasky of Lunar Vacation on guitar and backing vocals!) were both impressively cohesive and idiosyncratically similar– the artists share the same sonic texture of something slightly warmed by time– almost akin to radio transmission– and the same minimal yet comedic narration from The Slaps’ opening set that seemingly carried into Wolfhard’s interactions with the crowd.
Pursuing the momentum of energy he had begun to build, Wolfhard hit the crowd with “Choose the latter” and a seemingly unreleased track that features a cheeky reference to Willie Nelson’s (or Lefty Frizzell’s, depending on who you ask) “If You Got The Money, Honey I Got The Time.” The former being a personal favorite off of Happy Birthday and the latter (pun partially intended) featuring pure classic rock and roll guitar shreds alongside building drums that don’t just suggest but insist you jump… it’s difficult not to be left astounded by Wolfhard’s ability to work the stage and the crowd with ease.
It’s at this point where my attention was drawn to the simultaneously simplistic yet clearly well-articulated set dressing. With a large plush carpet beneath their feet and stacked amps next to the occasional unassuming wooden stool, the band was lit both by the gauzy stage lights and a desk lamp perched upon a small table at center stage that offered a small but cozy additional amount of honeyed light. (The design student in me would also be remiss to not mention that the lamp appeared to be an Emeralite, colloquially known as the “Bankers Lamp,” designed by Harrison D. McFaddin in 1909. The lamp is iconic within the film and television industry- entire forums are dedicated to the countless times it can be spotted throughout some of modern media’s biggest productions and franchises!)
Between the patchworked structure of their staging and the impressive breadth of their skills, each performer looked perfectly at home– an energy that extended into an unspoken ease felt in the air. Wolfhard had taken the attitude and unbridled energy of a local college town performance and elevated it into a touring production effortlessly.
By the time Wolfhard had bowed off the stage for the evening and the audience was left to participate in the charade that is encore, tones had shifted into a bluesy swing before landing temporarily in the land of the oddly whimsical for a performance of “No Offerings” with Repasky providing stunning vocals, all sorts of tambourines and shakers had made appearances… and Wolfhard had tragically abandoned his shoes onstage, leaving them to fend for themselves while the crowd chanted for “One more song!”
All of this sat to the wayside, however, as I waited and collected myself from a slightly embarrassing jam-out induced bout of lightheadedness. It’s one thing to review the incredibly impressive solo debut tour of a Hollywood star turned music sensation, and it’s another thing entirely to do so for an artist that’s just two years my senior. Simultaneously humbling and awe-inspiring, the moment of reflection and contextualization of time made the eventual encore set feel almost like a new show entirely.
Opening with the equal parts ethereal, heartbreaking, and reverential “Happy Birthday,” Wolfhard took the opportunity to reconstruct the band and the evening’s energy bit by bit as the encore went on. Upon working their way back up to the jumping, dancing, and yelling along of it all, Wolfhard leaned over the drummer’s kit to seemingly ask a question… and within moments they had swapped instruments entirely, Wolfhard absolutely destroying on the drums.
Now having properly left it all out on the stage, Wolfhard grabbed his camera from the center stage table, snapped a quick shot of the crowd, turned the bankers lamp off… and remembered his shoes on the way out as he exited stage left to raucous applause.
You’ve had 22 years to find out about Finn Wolfhard so far. If you find yourself still unaware, my advice after his performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg… is to start learning.
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