LIVE: Beach Bunny / Wednesday / Ky Voss @ Empire Underground, 05/09/2022

By Jarron Childs On May 10, 2022

Chicago indie-pop band Beach Bunny brought their retro, surf-style sound to the Capital Region last night. The band grew in popularity during the peak of the pandemic with their debut album Honeymoon, released in February 2020. Their most notable song off that album, “Cloud 9,” trended globally on TikTok. While on tour, Beach Bunny is preparing for the release of their newest album, titled Emotional Creature, that lead singer Lili Trifilio began writing soon after Honeymoon.

The band’s performance began with a stack of static-filled TV screens on stage, a nod to the nostalgic mood in much of their music. They started out with “Oxygen,” a single from their upcoming album. Trifilio took command of the stage and encouraged the audience to sing along to songs like “Six Weeks” and “Weeds.” There was no lack of energy during “Prom Queen”, as the crowd sang the chorus word for word and moshed throughout the song. The energy was kept high, but Trifilio did ask the audience to be safe during moshing; urging the audience to look out for one another and use their phone’s flashlight to signal if anything was going wrong.

Beach Bunny closed out the concert with a few of their most popular tracks. “Cloud 9” brought nearly every crowd member to their feet to dance. Their final song “Painkiller”, from one of their EPs Prom Queen, kept the same energy in the room. It began upbeat and loud, and changed tempo mid-way through the song, bringing the crowd back down to earth with them. The crowd was left wanting more as a roar grew demanding an encore.

It seemed Albany finally warmed up just in time to welcome the summertime feel that Beach Bunny never fails to deliver. Their surf-pop tone was well received with their mostly-young audience. They connected well with the audience, teaching them the lyrics to their songs and encouraging folks to sing along even if they didn’t know all of their lyrics. For a Monday night show, Beach Bunny’s performance did not disappoint. With their sophomore album on the horizon, the energy left with fans last night will hopefully bring the band back to the Capital Region again and again.

Ky Vöss opened the show. The singer sang songs from their recently released album The After. Ky Vöss is from Brooklyn, but has a very 80s electronic style of music. A style that is somewhat unfamiliar outside the confines of NYC. The crowd received them well as they could, bobbing their heads. Their set lasted about half an hour.

Wednesday, a band from North Carolina followed Ky Vöss’ performance. Their instruments were loud, washing out most of the vocals from their lead singer Karly Hartzman. Their set was riddled with tuning adjustments. The crowd was receptive to their indie-rock performance, although their music did not excite the crowd so much as it mellow them out. Their music made it feel like you were driving down a dark empty highway in the middle of summer, with nowhere to go. The set lasted about 45 minutes. It did not have as smooth of a transition as I thought it would, with band members giving out stickers to fans before leaving the stage.