Wind Walkers @ Bluebird Theater
Wind Walkers x If Not For Me x True North
09.25.26
True North
I am always gonna reccomend going early to shows and then staying the entire time, because you never know when you might find a new favorite band. Lowkey, that was True North for me for this show.
I had never seen them live before and, honestly, I only knew one of their songs going into the night, and as the changeover between them and INFM was going on, I found myself looking up the songs that they had played so I could add them to my playlists to listen to on the way home. True North brought an energy that immediately pulled me in, and what started as a band I was casually familiar with turned into one I’ll totally be keeping a much closer eye on.
And that was only the beginning.
If Not For Me
If Not For Me are becoming one of those bands where I’m starting to wonder if they’re even capable of putting on a bad show.
This was my fourth (or maybe fifth?) time seeing them live, and somehow they continue to get better every time. At this point, I know what I’m getting myself into when I see their name on a lineup: a ridiculously good live set, a crowd ready to lose whatever remaining bit of composure it has, and at least a few moments where I’m gonna be shocked and re-remember just how damn good they are.
Their new album is incredible, and hearing these songs live only made that more obvious. There’s a difference between liking a record and hearing a band take those songs into a packed room and turn them into something bigger. If Not For Me did exactly that. By this point, calling them one of the highlights of the night feels almost unfair because I expected them to be great, but what I didn’t expect was them providing kind of the best moment of the entire show.
During their set, If Not For Me brought out the singer from Wind Walkers to join them onstage for their song together, “Lie Awake”. Watching the two bands share the stage in front of an absolutely packed Bluebird was one of those completely spontaneous-feeling concert moments that make live music so damn fun. You just can’t recreate the feeling of being in that room when something like that happens.
Wind Walkers
If I’m being real, Wind Walkers was the band I had been waiting for all night.
This was my first time seeing them live, which is kind of ridiculous considering they’ve been one of my favorite bands for the past few years. Naturally, that meant my expectations were somewhere between “please be good” and “please don’t ruin my unrealistic expectations of what this band sounds like live.” Thankfully, they absolutely delivered. AND they played all of my favorites.
I can’t really do the feeling justice of hearing the songs you’ve spent years listening to translated live. All of the memories and the people that you have attached to those songs find a special way to become alive again, and I was wholeheartedly deep in my feels for their set.
The whole set felt massive despite being in a relatively intimate room. The lighting throughout the night was especially fun, and Wind Walkers’ set benefited from it immensely. Between the music, the lights, and a crowd packed tightly into every available inch of the Bluebird, the whole thing felt bigger than the room actually was.
