On a chilly October night, Center Stage in Atlanta was lit up with the bright neon sound of Dayglow touring behind his fantastic sophomore album Harmony House. The show almost didn’t happen — according to Sloan Struble, the band’s bus broke down in Montgomery, Alabama, stranding their lighting gear and causing the band to pull into the venue right as opener Hovvdy was beginning. Regardless, it was a fantastic show that had the entire sold-out room at level-10 energy.
We raved about Hovvdy’s latest album True Love earlier this month, and we were excited to see them bring the new, fleshed-out sound to life with this major spot opening for Dayglow. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned transportation issues, Hovvdy had to revamp their set on the fly to play as a duo (which was the band’s initial construction.) Although it was a pared-down performance, that didn’t harm the Austin, Texas duo in the slightest — Will Taylor and Charlie Martin, armed with a guitar apiece, played a softly electrifying set built on highlights from their entire discography. Their sound was a soft roar, adding nuance and depth to highlights like “Blindsided” and “Junior Day League”, and most importantly they seemed like they were having an absolute blast on stage despite the sudden shift in the lineup. What could have easily deterred any other band was instead treated as a launching pad, and there’s no doubt that Hovvdy won over fans with their unexpected set.
After a brief intermission, the lights dimmed, and Sloan Struble and co. triumphantly took the stage. Opening with Harmony House highlight “Something”, the band effectively marched through most of that album’s tracklist while peppering in the highlights from Fuzzybrain in between. Even without their high-quality light show, the band was electric — as far as the realm of alternative music goes, this band is one of the best in bringing their recorded music to the live stage. In between songs, you could tell Struble was overwhelmed with the moment before him — the last time they were in Atlanta, they played a 200-cap room and now they were there playing a large theater. As the set moved into the back half, songs like “Can I Call You Tonight?” and the stunning “Close to You” brought the crowd to an emphatic euphoria. Despite the struggles to get there, Dayglow and Hovvdy both took the moment provided to them to gift the crowd with a night they couldn’t forget.
