WEDNESDAY PLAYS THEIR BIGGEST headline show : concert review
Ironically on a Wednesday the band performed their biggest headline show to date on April 1, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts at Roadrunner.
April fools day is known to be a day filed with pranks and that’s exactly what the band did at the start of their set. Touring their latest record “Bleeds” North Carolina rockers “Wednesday” started off the show by playing “Manning Fireworks” a song from former touring guitarist, MJ Lenderman. Despite departing from the bands touring arrangement the musician still remains a member of the band for studio recordings which could explain the playful joke. It should also be noted they didn’t play this song in full as Karly Hartzman (photographed above) stopped the song midway and said “That’s April Fools for ya-" and went right into the actual opening song of the night “Reality TV Argument Bleeds.”
See a clip of it below…
Energy was not lacking from the band or audience that night. A whirlpool of a mosh pit exploded as soon as the band started playing “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” as the drums and guitars blasted along with Hartzman’s vocals the audience jumped, screamed and rejoiced to the music all night long. Only taking moments to stop and breathe during the bands tamer sounding songs.
At one point lead singer and main songwriter of the group, Hartzman took a moment to speak to the audience stating that it was the biggest show the band has ever played throughout their touring career. A noticeable fact to the audience in attendance as the band was initially supposed to play at “Royale” a Boston music venue with a standing capacity roughly up to 1,500. Due to the overwhelming demand as the bands popularity has only kept growing, the show was upgraded to “Roadrunner”. The largest general admission concert venue in the New England area with the total capacity of 3,500. This only made the evening more special to the fans present as it gave the band proper space to perform comfortably.
While watching the band you could notice that the stage was filled with various dolls and plushies. While swapping glances from the band to the dolls, artwork from Kamila Mlynarczyk (illustrator for the Bleeds album cover) was also displayed on the stage. The mix of visual elements on top of the folk, shoe-gazey, noise rock music made you feel like you were listening to the show in your teenage bedroom as Hartzman sings about the various characters with cautious backgrounds mentioned on the album. The guttural screams coming from her only made you want to scream along yourself. The range the vocalist has is quite impressive on top of the excellent imagery and songwriting used on the album, which is just as noticeable in the live performance.
Lets take a look at the rest of the setlist from the show….
Manning Fireworks - (MJ Lenderman song) (April Fools)
Reality TV Argument Bleeds
Got Shocked
Fate Is...
Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)
Hot Rotten Grass Smell
Candy Breath
Formula One
Phish Pepsi
Quarry
She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinking Doubles)- (Gary Stewart cover)
Play Video
Gary’s II
Pick Up That Knife
Bath County
Elderberry Wine
Bitter Everyday
Townies
Bull Believer
Wasp
It should also be mentioned that the band dedicated the final scream of unity with the crowd in one of their last songs “Bull Believer” to individuals and families affected by the current ICE raids happening around the United States. Hartzman noted that “we’re in a country obsessed with freedom; we take away the dignity of some of the people who contribute the most to it and make them feel like they can’t leave the house ,or if they’ll pick their kids up from school, or go get groceries, safely, without being ripped from their families.”
Lastly, the singer said that she screams for a time “that we wont’t be having our tax dollars spent funding a genocide. F**k ICE, free Palestine” . The band powerfully went into the song with the crowd feeling just as enraged leading to the audience screaming right back as the singer sung. Vulnerable moments like this is where the band finds its power and the audience can connect even deeper on an emotional level.
Wednesday is only going to grow from here. The band has a number of other tour dates scheduled around the US this month and is headed to Australia later this spring. Over the summer the band will play to even larger crowds as they’re set to open for Bleachers at Madison Square Garden in July and are playing alongside Pavement that same month. As the band continues to explode with popularity while they finish out touring this record they undoubtedly will grow into a household name and make a mark on listeners for years to come.
