In the chilly, frigid San Diego air, hundreds of fans are waiting for Wallice and JAWNY. Quartyard, the venue, is surrounded by shipping containers and hanging lights which gave a very trendy atmosphere. The venue had food and beer inside which kept the crowd in good spirits throughout the night. With the crowd finally inside, the opener walks on stage with audience enthusiastically cheering them on.

Wallice, the opener, was fantastic. I remember passing by in line in the crowd with some fans who had her new hoodie and others with the “Hey Michael” t-shirt T. I’ll admit, i’m a big Wallice fan as well who also wore a “Hey Michael” shirt to the concert but if you ever see her live, you can’t deny the talent. Although she had a new bassist join right before tour started, her and her band were still pleasure to watch. I’ve been a day 1 fan of Wallice ever since her cowboy aesthetic era but now she’s moved on to the next phase of her career aka 90’s American Superstar era and you can really tell from her newer stuff along with her stage presence.

Wallice played some of her early fan-favorites from her “Off The Rails” EP like “Punching Bag” and “Hey Michael” but newer stuff as well like “Japan” and an unreleased song that she said will hopefully be released soon. Some other stand out tracks were “Rich Wallice” and Wallice’s self-proclaimed favorite song to perform live “Funeral”. It’s an interesting contrast with her songs off “Off The Rails” giving off more nostalgic vibes to sense of anxiety and youth while her songs off “90’s American Superstar” just paint a picture of a story of a rock star that Wallice will surely become in the near future.

She ended her set with the angst-filled anthem, “23”, a song that addresses her dropping out of school, reminiscing being the age to use a fake ID, and the anxieties of being in your early twenties. A song really anyone can relate to because I feel like most people think they would have their life together in their early twenties but life never really works out that way. The crowd had a great reception of her set and this could be the beginning of a big year for Wallice. With just a recent announcement of opening up for The 1975 in Australia and playing in a few huge festivals this year, 2023 could really be the year of Wallice.

Despite Wallice’s set unfortunately coming to an end, the crowd were still hungry for more music and luckily JAWNY was ready to feed us more good tunes. Earlier in the article, I wrote about how Wallice is on the cusp of being a rock star but JAWNY is different. He IS a rock star. Starting the show off with “strawberry chainsaw”, had the crowd buzzing right off the bat. He kept the ball rolling with “Sabotage” and a crazy amount guitar riffs, pushing the show to the next level. He played “Trigger of Love”, one of his breakout songs, next and the vibes just kept getting better each song.

The best moment of the show for me was when he played “wide eyed” and “adios” back to back in his set. There was just something so magical of just being in the cold air but everyone ignoring it and just being so rowdy, singing and dancing along to every song. He even pulled out a cover of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” which I do remember him doing on his last show in San Diego a few years ago too. JAWNY just has countless songs that are great to listen to in a room full of people and you can’t help but have fun.

The set was full of crowd pleasers but my standout song was “take it back”. He does have a version with Beck featured but I just love the original version so much. It’s so euphoric to see the song performed live. After JAWNY ended his set, we soon learned after that he’s been dealing with some problems with his voice and had to rest in the tour bus immediately after. Overall, this concert was straight up a movie and if you can, I would highly recommend going to this tour if there’s a stop in your city.