On Saturday, September 21st, Stand Atlantic made their way back to The Netherlands for a show at Dynamo in Eindhoven. Not even a year ago, they were supporting Waterparks all over Europe, and now they are back for a headline tour. They brought along fellow Australians Slowly Slowly and the American Honey Revenge.
For this tour, fans could buy VIP tickets to the show, which included an acoustic performance, a Q&A with the band, and some goodies like a lanyard, poster, and tote bag. With two support acts, fans might show up later, but not for this show. With the VIP people already being in the venue, a long line waited outside for the doors to open up for them.
Just half an hour after doors and with the venue already filling up quickly, Slowly Slowly made their way to the stage. This Australian band from Melbourne consists of Ben Stewart (vocals/guitar), Alex Quayle (bass), Albert Doan (guitar), and Patrick Murphy (drums). Their set started with ‘Daisy Chain’ after which Stewart showed off he memorized the Dutch word for “thank you”: “bedankt”. They then played an unreleased song titled ‘Love Letters’, during which the crowd started clapping along happily. “I think I love you guys, we gotta come back” is what Stewart said after the song ended.
The energy in the room grew with every song, both from the band and the crowd. Especially during ‘Forgiving Spree’, which is the title track of their upcoming album coming out in January, the crowd jumped up and down and danced along. The band also could not stand still, with Murphy constantly smiling behind his drum kit. Even though the venue was also getting quite hot, the band was still giving all their energy, not slowing down. “I shouldn’t be leaking this, but we are coming back in March for a headline show. Please come, we have no friends here. We are lonely and hate each other” Stewart announced and joked. They ended their set with ‘Longshot’ and ‘Blueprint’.
During changeover, the crowd already cheered when Donny Lloyd from Honey Revenge walked over the stage, setting up their guitar. Californian band Honey Revenge consists of the duo Devin Papadol (vocals) and Donny LLoyd (guitar), joined on tour by Tay Kincaid (bass) and Matt Arsenault (drums). One thing that stands out about this band is their whole aesthetic. Papadol and Lloyd are wearing matching outfits most of the time, which usually include colors like pink, purple and yellow.
During the song ‘Worst Apology’, Papadol thought it looked very fun in the crowd, so she jumped down to join the mosh pit. Their set prompted the first crowd surfers of the night to make their way to the front. If you haven’t seen Honey Revenge before, they will pleasantly surprise you. Their songs are catchy and fun to dance and sing along to, and the band puts on a great show. They can be seen doing high kicks and having fun interactions with both each other and the crowd. Their best known song ‘Airhead’ was last on their setlist, ending it with the crowd singing along loudly.
A monologue was heard over the speakers before Stand Atlantic made their way to the stage. The band from Sydney, Australia consists of Bonnie Fraser (vocals/guitar), David Potter (guitar), Miki Rich (bass) and Jonno Panichi (drums). They started their set with ‘WAKE UP-SIT DOWN-SHUT UP’. From the beginning, the energy was through the roof and the crowd started moshing as soon as possible. Crowdsurfers also quickly started making their way to the front, which made security make their way to the front since it was a no barricade show.
“You guys cool if we slow it down real quick?” said Fraser before getting into the song ‘Toothpick’. Half way through the song they mashed it up by adding Train’s ‘Drops Of Jupiter’. One of the fans in the crowd held up a sign, asking if she could sing ‘Toothpick’ with the band. The band agreed and the girl, named Rose, made her way onto the stage. The crowd put up their phone lights, creating a beautiful atmosphere for the now duet.
Between two slow songs Potter quickly had to make an announcement, he had made a deal with the security that crowd surfing was fine, as long as everyone did it safely, but no more stage diving was allowed. The next song on the setlist was ‘LOVE U ANYWAY’, which Potter said was probably the most inappropriate song to make his crowd surfing announcement before. This show was pretty special, since it was Miki Rich’s birthday. You only have to say that once to a Dutch crowd, as they will quickly start singing the Dutch version of ‘Happy Birthday’. The band first gave the crowd some puzzled looks, having absolutely no clue what the crowd was singing, but Rich said he liked it more than the Aussie version and asked the crowd to sing it once more for him, which they gladly did. “As a lesbian, Miki is now my boyfriend because every lesbian needs a boyfriend” is what Fraser said before serenading him. They sat him down on a flight case and rolled him around the stage during ‘LOVE U ANYWAY’. After the song ended, Rich got Honey Revenge’s merch girl to eat a banana on stage, since that was all he wanted for his birthday.
‘Banana Girl’ was not gone too long, since she was called back up on stage for ‘Pity Party’ where they wanted her to crowdsurf through the whole crowd. Fraser asked the crowd to please not kill her and keep her safe, otherwise Honey Revenge would not be happy. Luckily, she made it back safely. They ended their set with ‘Coffee At Midnight’ and ‘GIRL$’. For the last song, Devin Papadol from Honey Revenge joined the band to perform it with them.
All in all, it once again was a night full of fun and great bands on stage. Even though the venue got very hot and sweaty, the energy from both the crowd and the bands could not be stopped. For anyone who was not done partying after watching all three bands, the venue put on an emo karaoke in their basement, where everyone could sing their hearts out even more.
