Just two songs into the night, Jeffery Jordan, Spencer Stewart and Garrison Burgess have to pause and slow down the show to make an unfortunate announcement: Jeffery had very suddenly and randomly lost his voice earlier in the day. They considered cancelling the show. Instead, they'll suffice with one lead singer, Spencer, while asking the crowd to sing along as much as possible.
Luckily for The Band CAMINO, this is a crowd of die hard fans who have not only sold out the venue, but they've sold out The Sylvee's parking garage before the first opener hits the stage--a rarity even for sold out gigs. Fans in the front row have signs, blacklight body paint and glowsticks, a nod to the title of the tour, Screaming in the Dark.
They're a familiar name for 5 Seconds of Summer fans, not only due to their similar sound, but also because they toured with the Australian group for their No Shame Tour in 2020. The Band CAMINO formed back in 2015 after meeting at the University of Memphis. Garrison would join the band in 2017 as the drummer, while Jeffery and Spencer would take on lead and rhythm guitar and share the role as lead singers. On first listen you might not catch that there's two of them: even with their distinct voices, they blend together and play into their individual strengths, letting one another take over when it best serves the song.
Tonight we'll only hear Spencer while Jeffery plays guitar several steps behind his microphone. It's not hard to tell that he's disappointed, and there's moments where you can see the worry take over him. Luckily, he would recover and return to the mic a couple days later at their Columbus, Ohio show.
With only one singer, it seems that they had to rework the show a bit. The band didn't hit the stage until 10:15pm, giving their openers a bit more time each. THE WLDLFE greeted a roaring audience saying, "We've played Madison before. We weren't sure how it'd go, but you guys blew us away." They're a natural fit for this audience, sneaking much closer to pop but railing off high energy tracks back-to-back. Bad Suns follows them, and the crowd once again knows every word. Their lead singer, Christo Bowman, delivers a flawless performance while announcing that he's celebrating one year sober this month.
The Wldlfe
Despite the setback for The Band Camino, Spencer sounds great as they work through a modified setlist. He effortlessly rolls through the high notes in "Afraid of the Dark" and "See You Later." Their instruments are all decked out in blacklight paint and the whites of their teeth glow when they turn on the UV light. It's one of the best stage productions I've seen for a band like this: in addition to the glow-in-the-dark pieces, they bring LED screens, lasers, cyro and confetti, all used in sporadically throughout the night.
After seven songs, they settle in for the acoustic portion of the evening. Fans have been doing their studying, so they know that this part of this show is based on requests. It's a little different today, however, given Jeffery's absence. They do shortened versions of songs like "Fool of Myself" and "Less Than I Do," and they even sneak in a cover of Taylor Swift's "Love Story."
The full band eventually returns to stage as they take on "2/14," their most well known track. It seems that after the acoustic set, their lead men are taking a deep breath. They get more comfortable and ease into the crowd singing back at them.
It's well after 11pm when they step back on stage for the encore, smashing out "I Think I Like You" and "Berenstein." It's clear that the encore is for the well-versed fans who have listened to the earlier days of their discography. They finish off with "Daphne Blue" where Spencer's voice was always meant to take center stage. Even with the worry over Jeffery's voice, it's hard not to end the show on a high note: they've sold out a 2,500-person venue, and the floor is filled with fans who will happily fill in the blanks.
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