People I've Met Take the Stage at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom
Photo by Mikayla LoBasso
If there's a dreamy alt-rock shaped hole in your heart aching for Wallows and The 1975 to finally return, you might want to try going to a People I’ve Met show.
Bonded by Moses Martin on guitar and vocals, drummer Orlando Wiltshire and Andrew Suster on the bass, People I’ve Met is a rising three piece based in Lower Manhattan. They made their festival debut at Reading and Leeds earlier this year, but the trio has been playing together since their sophomore year of high school.
I was lucky enough to catch them opening for Florence Road at Bowery Ballroom on September 28, and they did not disappoint.
The band hit the stage promptly at 8, quietly taking their positions behind their respective instruments. If your eyes weren’t locked onto the stage you probably wouldn’t have noticed them come out, but once the intro to “Something” began, all eyes were fixated on the group. There is no barricade separating the crowd and stage at Bowery Ballroom. So, by the time they played “Bastards” I was being pushed from my spot in the first row directly into the lip of the stage as the crowd clamored to try and get a glimpse at the band.
Digi Cam photos by Isabella Perez
There is a dreamy quality to People I've Met’s music, they’ve captured that liminal space in between dreams where your mind is awake but the rest of your body hasn’t quite caught up yet. There’s a sense of restless anticipation in their production that's coupled with smooth and hazy vocal lines.
While this dynamic is effective on streaming, it is amplified to the highest degree when seeing them live. While “WE LIKE MAKING NOISE” is a great track in its own right, the song has an explosive energy live that can’t be distilled into an mp3 file. They move across stage with boyish charm as Wiltshire shakes the venue with the back beat. It felt like the band had managed to stop time for a moment, as the rest of the room dissolved away the stage became their playground and nothing else mattered to them aside from each other and the music.
What has stuck with me most since watching their set has been the joy that they carried with them both onstage and off. After the show you could find them at the merch table excitedly passing out free CDs and cracking jokes with fans. They make it abundantly clear how much they love making music and more so they love sharing the music they make with other people. Seeing them interact with people after the show was like watching the foundation of a community being laid out in real time.
If you are a lover of indie or alternative rock, go to a People I’ve Met show the next time they are in your city. They will put on a set you certainly do not want to miss.