@tamar.agam

I caught Tommy Oeffling on the second-to-last stop of the tour for his new album, “Picture of Health”, at the Vivarium in his band’s hometown, Milwaukee. Full transparency: my first time listening to the album was the night before the show. I had previously listened to beauty filter (a self-titled album by one of Oeffling’s bands), so I went in feeling pretty familiar with Tommy’s general style. But I still wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from a live performance; “indie rock” is an incredibly vague genre, and I could see his sound on the record shapeshifting during a live performance. His tour line up was complete with Ethan Bailey accompanying him on drums, Matthew Poulton on guitar (the other two beauty filter members), and Caiden Dohr on bass.

Walking on stage to a raging applause at the start of their set, Tommy slid onto stage-right under blue lights with an air of nonchalance. But don’t let the moody ambiance fool you— Tommy & his band are full of energetic surprises. They first made their presence known by emerging from the crowd and jumping on stage during Chutes’ set (the openers that night), moshing straight off the stage into the front row. Halfway through Tommy’s set, he invited all the tour openers karaoke for them, and even summoned a friend on stage (Luke Tinsley from another of Oeffling’s bands, company calls) to help out on “If and When”.

Songs like “Ryan on the Corner” and “need you around” were particular hits, with the latter serving as the band’s cacophonous finale: drawing the audience forward as the entire band (including Tommy) stumbled around on stage to a seemingly-endless repetition and elaboration on the final moments of the song. This was one of the highlights of the show for me— and embodied the kind of infectious energy that only seems to be achievable in live performance. 

At the end of the day, I feel concerts are best judged by the experience they provide. You want that buzzing, post-concert musical high, and Tommy Oeffling will give you just that— it is absolutely worth seeing him and his band live. And if the audience’s cries for an encore that continued well past the band leaving stage are any indication, I’d say they’d agree.