Wavves rocks Rhino’s Youth Center

Fresh off their performance at Chicago’s Lollapalooza music festival in August, lo-fi punk band Wavves performed Tuesday at Rhino’s Youth Center.

“I inhaled this weird smoke and I feel pretty good,” Nathan Williams, lead singer of Wavves, said as he took the stage.

The band performed to a crowd of around 230 people.

“Bloomington is always a guest stop between something and something,” Spirit of ’68 Promotions president Dan Coleman said. “For a town this size, that’s a good crowd. The band was into it, the crowd was into it. It was everything you could hope for.”

Wavves began their set with “Friends Were Gone,” a single from 2009 and followed it with their latest album’s title track, “King of the Beach.” The band’s set provoked slam-dancing, chants and the occasional fan rushing to the stage.

Sal Russo, an Avon High School senior and a self-proclaimed “huge fan” traveled an hour and seventeen minutes to see Wavves perform.

“I have all of their albums and was really excited to see their show,” he said.  “It totally exceeded all of my expectations.  It was definitely one of the most energetic shows I’ve seen so far.”

Wavves was joined by local garage rock band Apache Dropout and San Diego lo-fi rock band Christmas Island.

“College crowds are good for small bands,” sophomore Joe Matick said. “Apache Dropout was great.  They had a lot of energy.”

Williams said he preferred playing smaller crowds versus the large ones at festivals such as Lollapalooza.

“It’s more fun to play these shows because you’re closer to the fans,” he said.  “There’s no big barricade.”

He also said that fans rushing to the stage are encouraged.

“We tell security to let them come up,” Williams said.  “It was a really fun show.”