FIDLAR at the Rialto

FIDLAR+at+the+Rialto

Halloween night. Tons of teens and an oddly ample amount of adults lined up outside of Tucson’s historical Rialto Theater. This was the fourth stop on the band’s headlining ‘Too Much Tour’. The stage was grandly set, a spray painted banner, rope lights wrapped festively around the drum set, and the large letters spelling out the band’s anagram name, FIDLAR (F*** It Dog, Life’s A Risk). More and more people filled in, He-Man, a ketchup bottle, a cow, until it was finally time.

The first up was surf punk group, The Frights. Dressed in cowboy ensembles, the four band mates took the stage, holding their Tecates and pressing on their fake mustaches. I’ve never listened to their music, but after that show they’re definitely in my playlist. They were fun, comfortable with the crowd, and most importantly, sounded great. After about an hour they bid us adieu, thanking their tour mates and throwing their fake guns into the crowd.

After a few minutes of tear down, the next band started setting up. On now was another group I hadn’t heard of, Swmrs, another surf punk band. After soundcheck, the four rushed the stage, the guitarist a convict, the drummer a teenage mutant ninja turtle, the bassist a pirate, and the lead singer a bloody cheerleader. Immediately they started and the crowd went wild. After a few songs the guitarist incited a wall of death, where the crowd splits down the middle, then rushes back at each other. The lead singer, who looked and acted like the child of Kurt Cobain and Macaulay Culkin, was at home in the chaos, and at the end of their set, lead a passionate group yell of “F*** DONALD TRUMP”.

Now it was time for what we all came here for: FIDLAR. The four, Max, Elvis, Brandon, and Zac, stumbled on stage wrapped as toilet paper mummies. After they ripped of their dressings, they revealed themselves, guitarist Brandon as an amazing Eleven from Stranger Things, and lead singer Zac as a caveman. Brothers Max and Elvis were dressed as their good old selves. After some banter, they started with a cover of one of the most hype songs ever, Sabotage by The Beastie Boys. The already insanely hyped crowd lost it, starting off the rough and tumble show with a bang. They continued playing fan favorites, Cheap Beer, Max Can’t Surf, West Coast, and a sing- along of their MTV hit, 40oz. On Repeat. The boys thrived in the sweaty, neon lit room, cracking jokes to each other and having the time of their lives. After a long and almost unanswered cry for an encore, the group came back out and played one of their most popular hits, Wake Bake Skate.

An event dedicated to being happy, rowdy, and enjoying music, my Halloween was one of the best holidays I’ve had, and definitely one I’ll never forget.