Photos and words by Samantha Skapin

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending The House of Blues to see Saint Motel share their newest album with Cleveland. Two incredible bands opened for them, which included Weathers and Hippo Campus.

First to the stage was Weathers. I wasn’t too familiar with Weathers other than their single I had heard on Alt Nation from time to time called “Happy Pills“, but I was excited to hear more from them. This band came out with huge smiles on their faces and made the whole room dance immediately. Lead singer Cameron Olsen was great at interacting with the crowd and spreading the smiles to their faces as well. His voice as well as the rest of the band sounds super crisp live and their pop sound was a great opener to the show. They played a lot of newer tracks from their forthcoming album, but they also played their most popular singles “I Don’t Wanna Know” and of course, “Happy Pills”. These guys were definitely an entertaining start to the night and have a great sound, so definitely check them out!

Next up was one of my favorite bands, Hippo Campus. I got really into these guys about a year ago and haven’t been able to stop listening since, so I was really excited to finally see them play live. The crowd was super hyped up to see these guys as well, as all the fans at the barricade screamed as soon as they came out. They immediately went into their song “Sophie So” from their 2015 release, Bashful Creatures. All of their songs are incredibly catchy and have such a nice groove to them, so it’s impossible not to dance when watching them. Vocalist Jake Luppen would talk to the crowd in between songs and was super entertaining and funny. They played songs off of both Bashful Creatures and their 2015 release South, which included “Dollar Bill”, “Little Grace”, and their most popular song, “Suicide Saturday“. These guys were so great to watch jam live and I would highly recommend you check these guys out, because they are going to BLOW UP. Be sure to check out their new single from their forthcoming album Landmark, “Boyish” as well!

Next up was what the crowd was waiting for, Saint Motel. Just a few days after this tour stop in Cleveland, they would be releasing their new album, Saintmotelevision, so needless to say these guys were on top of the world. Their set started off with an old 50s television set in the middle of the stage, showing a black and white ad for Saint Motel. As soon as the ad finished, Saint Motel took the stage and the crowd went insane as they started the set with a new song called “Local Long Distance Relationship (LA2NY)“. A lot of the new album is so catchy and just like Hippo Campus, it’s impossible NOT to dance to. These guys had an incredible stage presence and were so fun to watch play and interact with the crowd. The lead singer, A/J Jackson was all over the place, from climbing the television set, to even at one point coming up singing from the very back of the venue and hugging fans along the way back to the stage. They played a lot off of their new album, but were sure to include older songs such as “Feed Me Now”, “Puzzle Pieces”, and of course their hit, “Just My Type“. They closed out the show with their new song “Born Again” in which Jackson turned his back to the crowd at the end of the song and posed as the diver from their cover art on Saintmotelevison, and it ended the show perfectly. Overall, every band on this lineup was absolutely incredible and worth a listen, and if you have the chance to check out Saint Motel, do it. They bring so much energy to the stage and are so interactive with their fan base that it is such a breath of fresh air. Be sure to check out their newest release Saintmotelevision, because you’re definitely gonna hear some of these catchy songs on the radio.