THE WONDER YEARS ARE THE REASON I DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO END

Photos and Writing by Audrey Wilson

On February 19^th 2023, The Wonder Years brought Carly Cosgrove and Hot Mulligan to the Senate in Columbia, SC for The ‘Hum Goes On Forever’ tour in honor of the The Wonder Years‘ newest record that was released in September of 2022. This was the third stop of tour and a show that sold out, making it a high energy evening for fans in attendance.

The first band to go on was Carly Cosgrove, a pop punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I had the chance to photograph the band last October so it was exciting to catch up with them and see them perform for a much bigger crowd in a big venue. For those that do not know, Carly Cosgrove bases their aesthetic off of ICarly and Drake and Josh quotes/themes. Their song titles are quotes/phrases from the tv shows. A week ago, they released a new song titled “Don’t lick the swingset” which we got to hear last night. They also played a lot of songs from their debut record “See You in Chemistry”. It was their first time in Columbia and while it was not their first time touring, it was their first time touring with big names. I trust that many members of the crowd were not aware of who Carly Cosgrove is but I am sure many became fans after their set that kicked off the night.

The second band for the evening was pop punk veterans Hot Mulligan. As a Hot Mulligan fan, I was super excited to catch them for the first time. The band played mostly newer songs from their record “You’ll be fine” and even an acoustic titled “Heem wasn’t there”. The crowds energy was very apparent and someone even threw a shoe on stage for the band to sign, which they did after the show. The band members are super interactive and made time for chatting with the crowd in between the songs. The mosh pits were active and you could feel the excitement in the room even during the songs that are deemed “slower”.

Lastly, The Wonder Years made their appearance for twenty-one song setlist, most of which were from the records “The Hum Goes on Forever” and “No Closer to Heaven”. From the second they started, the crowd surfing and the moshing did not stop. It threw me off how the lead singer came on stage in a sling. A few days ago, he was told he damaged his rotator cuff and was in intense pain the entire day; however, the show went on and you could not even tell he was injured which was super impressive and I definitely owe a lot of respect to Dan Campbell (vocalist) for sticking it out. The Wonder Years‘ set was the epitome of pop-punk as their songs hit every emotion you could possibly hit. In between two songs, two people proposed to their significant others on stage which was a sweet moment for the crowd to witness. One thing about their set that stuck with me the most is the little speech that Dan gave to the crowd about how much negativity is in the world (mass shootings, illness, ecological troubles, death) but if we all do one act of kindness a day, we can work together to change for the better. I always enjoy when bands take time to touch on heavy topics as we all have battles we are going through, most of which we are able to temporarily escape from during shows that we go to. After song nineteen, the band came back for a two song encore. It was really sweet to see the crowd get excited for another chance to sing along with The Wonder Years.

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