In November 2021, Joywave announced their Spring 2022 tour in support of their fourth studio album Cleanse. For the first part of the tour, Almost Monday opened up the tour while during the second half, New Jersey based artist joe p opened the show.
The last five dates of the tour were very special to the band. On April 3, they played in their second home of Buffalo, New York. After stopping in Buffalo, they visited Boston and Brooklyn. They ended the tour on April 8 and 9 in their hometown of Rochester, New York with two back to back sold out shows.
The two openers of the show were local Buffalo synth pop band Humble Braggers and New Jersey artist joe p. Humble Braggers was a great addition to the show and you could tell that they were very thankful to be on the lineup.
Humble Braggers will be back at the Town Ballroom on May 20 for their Love & Fear album release show.
joe p was the official tour opener from March 24 to April 8.
There was a fan in the crowd, by the name of Bella, who was holding up a sign. It was a birthday sign, in reference to a Joywave song. joe p took a few seconds to sing happy birthday to Bella.
On stage, he also joked around saying that he didn’t have a merchandise person this tour so anyone could go to his merchandise table during his set and steal things (but don’t actually steal them). He also added that people should “come visit me after the show though and sign my shoes, really.”
So that’s what I did.
When I was standing in line to meet and chat with him after the show, the person in front of me signed his shoes. I did not sign his shoes but I chatted with him about the merchandise joke. He explained to me after the show he just simply loves meeting everyone that comes to watch him perform, that’s a pro about not having a merchandise person.
joe p will be back on tour starting May 4 with Spacey Jane.
Joywave’s set was four things: basically a hometown show, thoughts about Boston sports and the celebration of their two recent albums, Cleanse and Possession.
I call it a celebration for both albums because as lead singer Daniel Armbruster explained, they put out the Possession album on March 13, 2020, the week where most lockdowns started because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He jokingly said that it probably was not the best decision and that livestream concerts weren’t for them. So, they wrote another album and two years later in February 2022, Cleanse was born.
Possession was one of my favorite albums of 2020, so I was very happy the band took some time to recognize and celebrate it.
Daniel also started a side project during the pandemic, as many people did, so Joywave played one of the songs. The side project is with Jason Suwito of Sir Sly. The project is called Best Frenz and the song they decided to play was “Ugly Ending.”
Along with this song, they played songs like “Destruction,” “Half Your Age,” “After Coffee,” “Cyn City 2000” and many others. I found a fan who posted the setlist on social media and it was very fun to read over, as they added jokes and other fun notes.
Their love for Buffalo and the crowd was clear. They took some time during the set to chat about how they were able to sleep in their own beds after the show. Buffalo is a second home to them.
After the show, their photographer and videographer Ben Zucker posted their tour video recapping the show. Daniel says, “Fantastic day today in Buffalo as a massive Buffalo sports fan. Kevin and Connor and I went to a Buffalo Sabres game because it aligned with soundcheck nicely. And then Town Ballroom, one of the venues that Paul, Joey, and I would come see bands that we love growing up at and now we’re here doing it for real…”
Daniel also talked about how their next big project is a live recorded album from the shows and that Buffalo was one of the shows they were recording.
Overall, this was a wonderful show. Joywave’s set and production was better than I could have ever imagined. joe p and the Humble Braggers gained a ton of new fans for sure, myself included.
The best part of the night was when I walked back to my car and noticed that someone put a set of google eyes on my camera bag. I am not sure when it happened but it made me smile.
