I have been waiting for days to write this blog entry, having had to first attend to school work and having the tiniest bit of a social life, and I have been listening to WHY? pretty much nonstop during that time. And I’ve been sinking deeper and deeper into the music, falling more and more in love with Yoni Wolf’s freakin’ off-the-wall talent. This shouldn’t surprise you. I have written about his music before.
Anyway, so, I saw WHY? last Friday. It had been some time since I’d been to a show in the First Church basement, or to an all ages show at all. I have reached a point in my life at which 21-year-olds look like very young people, so being surrounded by pretty hip 17-year-olds drinking surprisingly acceptable beer out of brown paper bags was a bit of a trip. They were gung-ho, too. I’m usually able to scoot up to the front of a show, but not this time. These kids arrived early and waited in line and packed themselves oh so tightly around the stage.
It’s also been a while since I’ve felt the heat of so many bodies. I was standing over to the side of the room near an open door and the warmth of the crowd still reached me in waves, until the band took the stage and people closed in on all sides and I was enveloped.

The thing I most dislike about the church basement as a concert venue is that the lighting is absolute crap and it is impossible to take an ok picture.

I have a pretty good track record of getting pretty near to dudes whose work I adore – I have stood within 10 feet of Craig Finn, Matt Berninger and Will Sheff, to name some of my most most favorites – and was bummed that I was still so far away on this occasion. The area immediately in front of the stage got a little squishy/moshy at some points, though, so maybe this was for the best.
At any rate, the show was pretty good. The last time I saw them, Yoni played keys and maybe also guitar, but this time he brought more backing musicians and was just on vocals, which, I think, made for a more dynamic performance. They started things off with “The Hollows,” an opening selection of which I heartily approved, moved right into “January Twenty Something” and continued with a mix of songs from Alopecia and Eskimo Snow. “Rubber Traits” and “Gemini (Birthday Song)” off Elephant Eyelash, which has become my favorite of their albums, were both a treat. I was jazzed that they slipped the 44-second “Twenty Eight” in at the very end of the set; “Tell me, are you single yet? My heart’s as big as Texas” is one of my favorite of song openings.
The biggest hole in the setlist for me was the absence of “Fatalist Palmistry.” It’s certainly the most straight pop of their songs and a bit more upbeat than average, lyricwise, so I get that it might not have fit into the mix, but its omission was a minor bummer nonetheless. I’d've also really liked to have heard “Against Me,” my current fave off the new album.
I’ve been thinking about why I like WHY? so well, and have settled on the following reasons.
The songs are just packed with imagery. They evoke. For example, the lines from one of the aforementioned songs “there was a moth caught in the soapdish laminated in lye / Will (will) you still (you still) remember me well (remember me)?” It’s not all pleasant things you see and hear, but I mean, that’s life.
The other big thing is that the words and sentiment just seem real. The content ranges from uncomfortable (e.g. “Good Friday“) and creepy (e.g. “Simeon’s Dilemma“) to exuberant (“Fatalist Palmistry”) and sweet (“Simeon’s Dilemma” again … complex!). The song “Act Five” really gets in your face – “There is no grace in act five / only the nerves, insect-like twitches / involuntary bowel movements, and confusion / a snail in salt doesn’t fall asleep / with a half-smile, like grandma from the after-school special” – and speaks truth.
Wolf also manages to be consistently winningly self-effacing, “playing the wall at singles bingo” in “The Vowels, Pt. 2,” for instance, or the repeated “You know my build, you know my size / the degree to which my eyes are astigmatic” at the end of “Gemini (Birthday Song).” I have a soft spot for writers who are confident enough that they make smile while putting themselves down.
So, yes, I like WHY? Let it also be known that the reason I’m linking to songs like crazy is that I keep telling people that Yoni Wolf is so talented oh my god I can’t take it, but have thus far been unable to explain what I mean by that. So, listen, if you will, and see for yourselves.