Carly Cosgrove, Hot Mulligan and the Wonder Years played to a packed house.
Cain’s Ballroom packed in a large crowd for Carly Cosgrove, Hot Mulligan and the Wonder Years for their Hum Goes on Forever tour. The openers Carly Cosgrove fused nostalgia and punk with all their “iCarly” and “Drake and Josh” themed songs. The Philly band was a hit with their “Fuck Dan Schneider” drum head, getting a massive cheer from the audience for it.
Hot Mulligan’s set brought a high level of energy from both the band and the crowd. Tades Sanville, the singer, headbanged for the entirety of their performance, whipping his long hair left and right. Sanville quipped, “For the first time in my life, I bought a hairbrush because I refuse to be a white guy with dreads!.”
Finally, the Wonder Years took the stage and, much to the concert-goers’ surprise, Dan Campbell, the singer of the band, emerged on stage with his arm in a sling. He exclaimed that he just woke up a couple of days ago and couldn’t move it. Luckily, he found a doctor the morning of the show who gave him a Cortisone shot. Though he was in pain, it didn’t affect his highly engaging performance.
Before beginning “Laura & the Beehive,” Campbell told the audience that the song was about his late grandmother. His emotional performance of the song glistened with vulnerability. It wouldn’t be a misinterpretation to say that he idolized her. In fact, he asked the audience to do him a favor, he said, “If you have the capability, please call your grandma tomorrow.”
Before launching into their final song, Campbell tearfully asked the audience to remain hopeful despite everything going wrong in the world today, listing off a myriad of issues such as transphobic bills, mass shootings, police brutality and climate disaster (specifically mentioning the tragedy that occurred in Ohio). In a poignant moment, he looked to the crowd and said, “You’re the reason I don’t want the world to end,” which basically describes the message and essence of the Wonder Years to their core.
