The Menzingers and The Wonder Years Take Over Sherman Theater
BY LIZ RAINEYPennsylvania’s own, The Menzingers and The Wonder Years took over the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, PA on Saturday October 5th. Along with these two headliners, they bring Liquad Mike with them. While it's been 15 years in the making, they finally tour together. This fall tour dream duo brought power and punch to their first sold out show on the tour to their home state.
To open the show was not a Pennysvannia native. Liquid Mike is a power pop rock band from Marqueete, MI. Opening with “Drinking and Driving” off their 2024 album, this band brought heavy power riffs and even a trumpet in some songs. At some point, lead singer, Mike Maple, brings up about keeping “his job at the post office or leave to go on tour with The Wonder Years and The Mezigners.” Mike made the choice to tour on this bill. Liquid Mike brought an energy to the room to live it up. Adding similar vibes that each band brought to this bill, this band live up this crowd for what they were prepared for.
Philly’’s own, The Wonder Years, took the stage. Opening up with “Doors I Painted With” off their latest record, The Hum Goes On Forever, the crowd screams back to front man, Dan “Soupy” Campbell, “I don’t wanna die…” with only guitar being played. The energy from The Wonder Years is the same energy they’ve been giving since their days of touring Warped Tour and being on Hopeless Records. The band interacting with crowd with passion fans screaming back and The Wonder Years making sure their fans are okay, its a pure connection for these people
Even with a pause during the set, it did not stop the energy in this crowd for The Wonder Years. One thing I will always say about The Wonder Years fans, their passion never died for this band since their beginnings in 2005. Every time the band is asking for the audience to sing along, they sing it louder than any audience I hear. Lines like “We're no saviors if we can't save our brothers” were overpowering in this room full of people. The love you see the band give to this band is given back from their fans with their passion.
Soupy talks about this audience being an older crowd. He makes a joke about how he feels “theri aches and pains,” asking them to keep up with the energy. While it's a noticeable older crowd for a band that’s been around for nineteen years, one thing I noticed was a younger fan. Soupy made sure to have him walk up and high five. This little one was crowd surfing for both The Wonder Years and The Mezigners. While we may be an older crowd, they are raising their newer generation with the same music.
One other thing about The Wonder Years is their passion for human rights. Soupy mentions the housing crisis before playing into “Oldest Daughter” mentioning how “we failed you, I love you, I’m sorry.” Before closing out on their set with their hit song, “Came Out Swinging,” Soupy brings up trans right being more important than anything else. Another issue he brings up is about freeing Palestine and calling for a ceasefire. The Wonder Years has made their stance clear on LGBT and minority rights, making their community a safe home for those who feel unwelcome.
The Menigzer closed out this energetic night at Sherman Theater, opening with “The Obituaries.” Only 45 miles from their hometown of the electric city, Scranton, the energy from them felt like bright lights on the city. Just like The Wonder Years, they have passionate fans yelling the lyrics back to them. This energy brings grand smiles to every member of the band. Even through two very crowd heavy bands, the energy from similar fans was able to stay alive the whole night. The Mezingers brought high jumps and punk riffs to this highly active crowd from fans of all sorts of ages.
Co-frontmen Greggy Barentt and Tom May began to talk about being from Scranton and NEPA, also known as Northern Eastern Pennysvannia. This isn’t the Menzingers first time playing Sherman Theater and how they enjoy coming back. While most people were from Scranton and the Poconos, there were cheers when mentioning the tri-state area like New Jersey and even seeing jerseys for Philadelphia sports teams. This proves how the East Coast, especially the Pennysvannia area, whether in Philadelphia or Scranton, will have energy back for bands they love and grow with.
The Menzingers came out for two more encore songs including “In Remission” and “Casey.” This closes out the last energized set of this bill. There’s one common theme I’ve noticed from this tour bill and it’s the passion that comes from fans of this band. Whether they were a fan of one or both, their energy kept up. There were no real slower songs on this set so much but high speed songs to keep the crowd on their feet. There was no time to stop unless between sets. The passion kept them driven.
The Wonder Years and The Menzingers are the perfect pairing we always needed for themselves and their fans.
This tour has just begun and tickets are on sale for the remaining shows. You can purchase by visiting https://loneliestplaceonearth.com/ or https://themenzingers.com/pages/tour
