Wallows brings indie, alt-rock sound to The Westcott Theater
Even though The Westcott Theater is only about a mile away from Syracuse University’s campus, it’s not always the first thing that comes to the minds of SU students when they are making evening plans. But next week, the venue will be packed with college students, eagerly waiting to see the band Wallows and hear its indie, alternative rock music.
Wallows will perform at The Westcott Theater on Thursday, Feb. 27, with opening act Penelope Isles. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert begins at 8 p.m.
The performance is part of Wallows’ Nothing Happens tour. The band’s first studio album of the same name was released in 2019 and amassed 5.3 million streams in the U.S. during its first week of release, according to a press release.
The band is composed of three members who are all childhood friends: Braeden Lemasters on guitar, Cole Preston on drums and Dylan Minnette on guitar and keyboards. Minnette also plays the role of Clay Jensen on the Netflix show “13 Reasons Why.”
Wallows has performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” The group has even opened for Vampire Weekend on multiple occasions, the release said. It kicked off the second leg of its tour on Feb. 13.
When marketing most of its shows, The Westcott does a combination of digital and print advertising, posting on its social media and also handing out flyers and posters. But with Wallows, the “show sold out so quick, that by the time our posters were ready, the show was already halfway sold out,” said Wesley Johnson, director of marketing and box office manager of Creative Concerts. The show sold out in less than two weeks.
For shows with a band as big as Wallows, The Westcott also relies on the band to reach out to its fans through its own platforms, Johnson added. That’s how SU senior Madison Snyder found out about the concert.
“I follow their Instagram, so I probably saw one of their posts that has all their tour dates up,” Snyder said. “I didn’t think anything of it, but when I saw they were coming to Syracuse, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I have to go.’ I didn’t even know anyone who was going, but I had to go.”
The first single off the Nothing Happens album, “Are You Bored Yet?” features Clairo, a former SU student, who also recently performed at The Westcott. The Wallows concert was booked right before Clairo played at the venue on Nov. 8, Johnson said.
“A lot of the people that also went to the Clairo show mentioned they were going to the Wallows show,” he added, and expects most of the crowd to be made up of college students.