Lights flashed in all different colors. Music blared through the speakers. A packed arena became a home of live music as the beat of the drums became the crowd’s heartbeat for the night.
On October 3, Wallows took over the Atlantic Union Bank Center at James Madison University (JMU) to play their last show of 2025.
Fans traveled from all over the country to watch the special show. Although the concert was a college show, seats were also made available for purchase to the general public. Floor tickets were reserved for JMU students to buy; however, many shared pit access with non-students as well.
After a lively set from the opener, Adam Paddock, phones were held up all around as the crowd rushed closer to the stage.
“Aquatic Ambience” by Scizzle began playing as the three-piece made their way from behind the curtains. This included guitarist, vocalist and bassist Dylan Minnette, guitarist and vocalist Braeden Lemasters and drummer and vocalist Cole Preston.
They were joined by three other musicians, who despite not being members of the band, have played with Wallows throughout the entirety of the tour. These three were Danny Ferenbach on keys and trumpet, Blake Morrell on bass and Kevin Grimmett on keys and guitar.
Lemasters strummed the captivating guitar introduction of “Your Apartment,” the lead single of their third studio album “Model,” and the crowd was woken up immediately.
The cathartic scream of “remember you’re not the only one in this” during the track as Minnette sang echoed through the arena for one final time. The band led straight into “Scrawny,” which had the crowd jumping to the beat.
Not only did they play their more popular tracks, but they also pulled out some deep cuts. “This one is for the real Wallows fans, I guess,” Minnette said, introducing “Dig What You Dug.”
This was not the only obscure, not often heard live, track they played, thanks to fan Caryn Garland, who had the chance to meet the band before the show.
“When I met them, they asked me what song I wanted to hear and I begged for “1980s [Horror Film”] and Braeden smiled, but Dylan was like ‘do you have a backup?’ So, then I asked for ‘Drunk on Halloween,’” Garland said.
Per her request, for only the third time this tour, the band played “Drunk On Halloween.” Garland shared that she “was super stoked” and that Lemasters asked her friend, who worked the event, how she felt about the song being played.
Throughout the tour, Wallows have strived to prioritize their fans when it comes to these song choices. In many people’s opinion, the craziest setlist played was their Lollapalooza aftershow in August. There, they opened with their most streamed song, “Are You Bored Yet?” This was then followed entirely by fan requests for the remainder of the show.
Some of these requests included “What you like,” which had not been played since 2020 and “Bad Remake” and “Hard To Believe,” which made their tour debut.
Minnette shared his reasoning for these setlist changes on “The Internet Is Dead” Podcast.
“I also think that it’s good for artists to take their setlists and things they do online into mind, thinking about their superfans.” Minnette said. “At the end of the day, if you can just keep people that passionate about you for as long as you can, that’s really what matters.”
In the spirit of valuing their biggest fans, the sets also consisted of a lot of crowd interaction. During the song “She’s An Actress,” Minnette would often walk through the pit as he sang.
Lemasters did the same during various songs, including “World’s Apart,” “Going Under” and “1980s Horror Film II.” Unlike Minnette, Lemasters often traveled up to the lawn or further through the venue. At a show in Maryland, he even snacked on a fan’s popcorn.
Within the Wallows fandom, it became a joke to see where Lemasters would go next during these songs. At one show, he even made it behind the counter of a concession stand.
Screams of “where is he?” became common at their shows, especially in New Jersey on Valentine’s Day. At this show, the first song they played was “She’s An Actress,” so Minnette made his way through the crowd to the stage at the very start.
Lemasters and Minnette would also walk along the barricade often. At the Governor’s Ball in June, Lemasters even let a fan on barricade strum his guitar during one track.
More commonly, Minnette would walk down to the barricade during “OK.” When the band got to the bridge, he would pick a fan to sing into the microphone. At JMU, the fans he picked were dressed up as the band in the “OK” music video.
This also happened a week prior at All Things Go, a music festival in Maryland. This show was one of the loudest of the tour, so the band clearly expressed their gratitude, especially to the fans who chose their set over other bands playing.
“This is something that when we’re like going and writing the next record, I’m thinking about this,” Minnette said to the crowd at All Things Go, the second to last show of the tour.
On “The Internet Is Dead,” the band shared they made a goal to have the crowd go as crazy as possible during their shows, and they succeeded. During “Remember When,” the whole crowd was jumping and dancing, just as they hoped.
Following the song, Minnette joked that the three-piece fought backstage, and this show was “the final Wallows show,” before getting truly sentimental.
“This is our last time playing for a really long time,” Minnette told the crowd. “Right now, this is the last night of the tour. It’s been over a year now. It’s been a great time. It’s bittersweet tonight, and we wouldn’t rather end anywhere but JMU.”
Wallows closed the show with the track “Only Friend.” Lyrics like “I feel the ending close” and “will you come back again?/I only need a friend,” which made for the perfect send off to such a memorable tour.
