This past February I took a trip to Cudahy, Wisconsin to attend Grayscale’s Nella Vita Part II tour. I traveled from Chicago to X-Ray Arcade, a small 200 capacity venue just outside of Milwaukee. The show was sold out, and there was no barricade which meant the crowd was in for a wild night.
The first band that played that night was Chicago based rock band Lurk. The new wave inspired punk band pulled people in as soon as their set began. Their mixture of heavy rock vibes mixed with some intense breakdowns inspired from hardcore and punk music got the crowd moving. They played some songs off of their first full length album Hi-Fi such as Combat Culture, Lurk and Run in Circles.
The second band of the night was pop punk band WSTR coming from Liverpool. As soon as they opened with their newest single Filthy the crowdsurfers were up. The band played some older songs like Featherweight but they also played newer songs like Crisis and Bad to the Bone. The band got the crowd hyped up.
Right before the main act was Lansing based pop punk band Hot Mulligan. Opening with How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells, the pits were open and stage divers were all over the place immediately. The band played songs from their upcoming album You’ll Be Fine like Feal Like Crab and Bckyrd. They also played some older stuff like I Fell in Love with Princess Peach and Something About a Bunch of Dead Dogs. People were moving all throughout the small venue.
Finally, the headline band came on. The Philadelphia-based pop punk band Grayscale immediately brought a new found life to the venue. The band opened with Just Right, the first track from their second studio album Nella Vita. The flashing lights, the crowd singing and dancing together was a picture perfect example of how the music scene is so close. Grayscale had some crazy pits during Mum, and lots of crowd surfing and stage diving during Fever Dream. The sold out crowd sang at the top of their lungs and had a lot of energy.
I have seen all of these bands before, some even quite a few times. But this show felt like the first time seeing them all. Every band had an amazing stage presence and the crowd was like a family. It was a great show to kick off the year with.
