SOCCER MOMMY AND MADELINE KENNEY AT STUBB'S IN AUSTIN, TX
In Western superstition, Friday the 13th has historically been glorified as a day of bad luck for many, but for Tennessee’s Soccer Mommy the first of 2018’s unlucky “holidays” proved otherwise with a sold-out show at Stubb’s with opener Madeline Kenney.
Coming on the tail end of their tour together and a mere 6 weeks after Soccer Mommy’s latest album “Clean” on Fat Possum Records came out to much acclaim, you’d expect the energy of each artist’s live set to be slightly lackluster, but you would be ecstatic to find that not be the case. As the crowd filed in before the start of the show you could feel the liveliness fill the room with each step and voice echoing throughout the indoor stage of Stubb’s.
Madeline Kenney and her band stepped on stage to play a set of her mix of dream pop and pedal-laden folk to a receptive crowd. As the songs continued to be churned out, each ear lingered on the last note sung, most notably during her song “John in Irish” from her 2017 release “Night Night at the First Landing.” The smiles of the crowd then turned into a dance party on her last song as she put down the guitar and energetically moved across the stage with two microphones to end on a high note.
As the time passed until Sophie Allison’s project Soccer Mommy took the stage, the anticipation swelled and then erupted as the lights dimmed and Sophie and company arrived to croon her songs of infatuation and self-loathing – topics which are extremely relatable to the majority of her listeners. Throughout the set, emotions could be felt radiating from the faces and body language of the congregation worshiping at the altar of Sophie up to the point of tears as she came towards the end of her set with the song, “Allison.”
Following the end of this tour, Soccer Mommy will be spending the summer opening for Paramore on the next leg of their After Laughter tour from June 12-July 1 and then for Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement) & the Jicks on select dates from July 17-August 5, so you have plenty of chances to catch them before the year’s end.
Nathan is an Austin, TX-based photographer, who once kind of, vaguely from 100 feet away if you squinted a little, resembled Rufio from Hook when he was younger, that thoroughly enjoys pro wrestling, anime, murder mystery shows and hanging out with everyone’s pets.