It’s an ordinary Saturday

I’m headed to a show at the crescent ballroom in Phoenix AZ, but as I look around I notice something strange. There's girls in low rise jeans and butterfly clips, there’s a kid with a final fantasy t-shirt, someone is recording on their flip phone… What year is it? 

The lights go down, the cutest girl band you’ve ever seen Silver Deer captures the audience in a way that can be so difficult for opening acts, but the whole crowd was mesmerized by lead singer Halsey Bousquet’s Dolores O’Roiden style lilting, and the energy they envoked with their cover of Hella Good by No Doubt. 

The night already feels like being in a 2003 teen drama on an episode where they go to a concert. The Duo from the band After take the stage and something between the nostalgic guitar and production or the wind blown blonde hair and angelic voice transports the audience back 20 years. We’re no longer in 2026 we’re at a show to see frou frou, The Veronicas, flyleaf, Michelle Branch, Evanescence, Hillary Duff, Avril Lavigne. The crowd is waving their arms in the air, best friends are holding hands and shrieking lyrics, everyone’s singing along to the classic “do-do-do” parts of songs. For an entire hour as After performed the current world disappeared entirely and the whole crowd was wrapped in a shimmering bubble of nostalgia. 

After’s unique skill is just that, bottling nostalgia, from the music that feels like a beloved song you’ve forgotten even thought it’s your first time hearing it, to the album art, music videos, merch and everything else about their aesthetics being perfectly curated to present itself like a y2k time capsule.

Photos by Sarah