The Front Bottoms at The Fillmore Silver Spring: Concert Recap
By Alexandra Henriques
On October 26th, the famous indie-rock, “Midwest-emo” band, The Front Bottoms, took on The Fillmore Silver Spring in Maryland, supported by Eliza & the Delusionals. The show, the 19th of their Finding Your Way Home Tour, was one of the most entertaining concerts I have attended this year, and I got to share the experience with three other Mason students!
WGMU had the opportunity to run a ticket giveaway for The Front Bottoms show at their Name that Song event in early October, so two GMU students, myself and my +1 attended the concert together. We got there about half an hour before doors and secured ourselves nice spots in the center of the crowd. While I have been to The Fillmore multiple times, I am always impressed by their thorough security, easy-to-access tap water and the temperature inside the venue. For a show where people moshed for over an hour, no one passed out due to overheating or dehydration, and security did an amazing job of handing out water. However, before getting into the giant mosh, I must start with Eliza & the Delusionals, who were absolutely phenomenal.
Eliza & the Delusionals
Eliza & the Delusionals is an indie-rock band from Australia, and their tour with The Front Bottoms was their first time in the United States. Their accents, mixed with their humor and pure talent, made for a wonderful 40-minute set. Their guitarist, Kurt Skuse, consistently joked with the audience about American staples, such as Bass Pro Shop hats and Long John Silver’s. While their bassist, Ruby, did not complete the set due to illness, Skuse and lead singer Eliza Klatt showed incredible talent and professionalism by continuing to perform an amazing set as a duo. Eliza & the Delusionals had great energy, encouraging the crowd to jump and dance to their upbeat songs. They also incited loads of enthusiasm from the crowd when they began to cover Phoebe Bridger’s “Motion Sickness.” Since the show, I have looped many of the songs they performed, such as “I Wanna Love You,” “Madison” and “Just Exist.” This was their last show with The Front Bottoms, so I am very lucky to have seen them before they returned to Australia.
The Front Bottoms came on half an hour after Eliza & the Delusionals’ set ended. They opened with “Raining,” from their 2017 album, Going Gray. The crowd was one of the most enthusiastic I have ever seen, screaming the lyrics, doing the peace sign and middle finger gestures along with “Peace Sign” and moshing from “West Virginia” onwards. I did not expect a mosh (which, in retrospect, was silly of me), so being in the exact center of the crowd nearly cost me my life. However, the crowd was kind and took care of everyone who fell or was attempting to avoid the mosh. My favorite moment from the mosh was during “Father,” as Brian Sella, TFB’s lead vocalist and guitarist, sang, “I believe that, yeah, Dad, maybe no one is perfect / But I believe that you were pushing your luck,” and there was just a guy in a banana costume crowd surfing. After, Sella talked about the guy in the costume as he was equally enthralled.
The Front Bottoms
Sella was an amazing performer who brought energy and humor to the stage. He hosted a costume contest, where his band played the Family Feud theme, and Sella chose the best-dressed people in the crowd. He even gave out prizes, such as 15 and 5 dollars. I have never seen a performer give money to the crowd, so that was a first. Additionally, he did a t-shirt canon where he launched shirts into the crowd, and I was a lucky winner (I now have a t-shirt from their 2022 Champagne Jam!). Sella also found his bandmates auras with light bulbs and brought out a hotdog guitar for “Emotional,” “Be Nice to Me” and “Finding Your Way Home,” the last song of the set before the encore.
The Front Bottoms sound nearly identical to their recordings but with better acoustics, so I was thoroughly impressed. My favorite performances were “Laugh Till I Cry,” “Lone Star” and “montgomery forever.” Their encore was also great – the band exited the stage, and Sella performed half of “12 Feet Deep” as a solo acoustic performance before his band reentered and finished the song. Then, they promptly dove into their most popular song, “Twin Size Mattress.”
The show ended at 10:40, after over an hour and a half of music. Overall, it was a high-energy and memorable concert, and I truly recommend seeing both The Front Bottoms and Eliza & the Delusionals when they tour in the DMV area next!
