half•alive closes out their U.S. tour @ The Wiltern

LOS ANGELES, May 19th 2023

Last Friday, indie-pop band half•alive ended the U.S. leg of their tour with a sold-out show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, with openers Dev Lemons and Tessa Violet. 

Dev Lemons

The content creator and singer Dev Lemons was the first to warm up the crowd at The Wiltern, and warm them up, she did. She and her drummer (and fellow Queef Jerky band founder) Nick Green were dressed as the twins from The Shining, immediately sparking interest from the audience. 

Lemons’ voice was soft and melodic, turned pop by Green’s hardcore drum rhythm. She had the crowd clapping along to new pining indie tracks such as “Dizzy Vision” and “You Tear Me Apart.” The sad, mellow content of her songs was juxtaposed by her humorous commentary and water-bottle-chugging challenges between songs. By the end of her set, Lemons had the whole audience barking with her. 

Tessa Violet

Singer-songwriter Tessa Violet was an angel in hot pink sequins as she rocked The Wiltern with her confidence. Her stage presence was stunning as she strutted around, enticing the crowd to sing along to her well-known indie-pop hits like “Crush” and “Bad Ideas.”

“I love you the most, LA,” Violet claimed before starting her set. She changed the mood of the venue several times throughout her performance, singing about topics from depression to first love to being a “Bad Bitch.” The audience jumped, clapped, and screamed as she went through her upbeat set. She even paused her performance for a five-minute self-confidence boost, in which she made the crowd repeat positive affirmations with her.

Violet took a break from pop for one standout acoustic track, “Kitchen Song.” She taught the crowd the scat outro, creating a beautiful change in atmosphere as everyone in The Wiltern sang and swayed in unison. 

She ended her set by asking how many people in the crowd had been in a toxic relationship with someone older when they were young. The resultant piercing screams encouraged Violet to sing, “You Are Not My Friend,” a track about that experience. “You say I'm insecure/You're twenty-eight with a teenager,” she screamed.

half•alive

The half•alive set began rather mysteriously, with the band behind a white screen. Frontman Josh Taylor’s dark silhouette was all that was visible for the first two songs, increasing the anticipation and drama. The crowd’s impatience was almost tangible as they waited for the band to reveal themselves. 

The three band members were accompanied by two talented interpretive dancers, who supplied each song with complex choreography. The voices of the fans screaming along to obvious favorites, such as “still feel” and “Did I Make You Up?” electrified the energy in the room. 

half•alive’s set lasted almost an hour and a half with 29 songs, but their high energy never once fell. Taylor’s stage presence was phenomenal, with plenty of audience interaction. The Wiltern was filled with die-hard fans of the band, shrieking every time the first notes of a loved song began. 

One of the obvious highlights of the show was the song “Call Back,” accurately described by Taylor as, “the one where J lays down that sick bassline.” While the majority of the set was filled with upbeat pop, such as “Back Around,” or sultry music the crowd swayed to, like “Yosemite,” the band also had a long acoustic medley segment. Soft, folksy songs such as “Ok Ok” were beautifully performed, and a refreshing break from the jumping. 

At one point in the show, the lights all went out and a phone rang. Taylor answered, a single spotlight on him, as the audience heard Dev Lemons and Nick Green’s voices chatting casually about their favorite Pokémon. This performance can be described aptly as cinematic, with dramatic lights, backup dancers, and stops mid-show. half•alive saved the majority of the fan favorites for the very end, bringing the energy way back up and closing their set, and tour, with a bang.