I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 26, 2026] Weird Nightmare

I first heard about Weird Nightmare on the radio.  WXPN played one of their songs, saying the guy behind the band, Alex Edkins, was the former lead singer in Metz. I really enjoyed Metz and was bummed that I only had one chance to see them before they went on hiatus.  Metz is super noisy, so I was really curious what this new “radio friendly” song would sound like.  And it was great–super catchy with a cool fuzzy guitar solo and a Dinosaur Jr sound.

It became one of my favorite songs of the year so far.  And when this show was announced I grabbed a ticket immediately.  Later on, I had the choice between this show and The Breeders (who I loved in the 90s) and I chose  this one.  I don’t know how the Breedersd were (probably pretty good), but I really loved being in this small venue right up against the stage.

I assumed that Weird Nightmare had one album out and they would play the whole album.  Turns out this is their second album and they played songs from both releases.

They opened with Headful of Rain a bouncy, catchy song that totally belied the background of Metz!  I’m not sure who the live band was, although on record Loel Campbell is on drums and Roddy Kuester is on bass.  I have no reason to think anyone else is playing with him.  Campbell sang great backing vocals on the first song and then his unnamed rhythm guitarist sang fantastic harmonies with Campbell on most of the rest of the set.

It was an odd coincidence that they played a song called Lusitania since we were just talking about that ship over the weekend.   I don’t know what the song is about but the title is rhythmically perfect.

Pay No Mind has the most obvious chord progression–super catchy and familiar, but the song and band are so unpretentious that the song just sounds fun.  And the staccato parts of the chorus set it apart.  I Think You Know was similarly familiar and catchy.  But with Alex’s raspy/rough voice and all of the distortion, it gives the old melodies a fresh, rough sheen.

Alex was a fun frontman.  He was funny and it was clear that he’d been doing this for a long time.  (It was interesting feeling the difference between Golden Apples and Weird Nightmare.  I enjoyed them both but Weird Nightmare sounded bigger and felt more engaging.   But he also said that he’d been wanting to do something with Russel

Once again, despite the noise from Metz, the melodies and sweetness (lovely Ahhhs on So Far Gone) were so far removed from that original band.  But it worked so well.  They followed this with the latest super catchy single Might See You There–two minutes of pop delight.

He announced the next song was a cover and I recognized it but it didn’t exactly sound right.  But it was Spoon’s Trouble Come Running–a song I’ve never seen Spoon play, I might add.

Then came Forever Elsewhere. I enjoyed watching the rhythm guitarist playing the simple but oh satisfying guitar riff in the middle of the song.  The end of the song has a simple, but very satisfying-sounding guitar riff (mildly reminding me of The Spirit of Radio) and Alex had a lot of fun playing it…for much longer than it lasts on the record.

There was just one song left.  At previous shows there had been an encore, but there’s no way to do an encore in Ortlieb’s–it’s a tiny place, and what are they going to do, walk through the audience?  (Again–that’s how they got to the stage–Alex walked right by me three times, but I didn’t know what he looked like).  And that was that.  Roughly 45 minutes of super catchy, sweaty fun.

True, I was looking for parking for almost as long as Golden Apples played and my commute home was longer than the Weird Nightmare set, but it was a lot of fun and it is great to get home early.

You can watch the set from Massachusetts the following night in the video below

• Headful of Rain ∞
• Nibs ♣
• Lusitania ♣
• Pay No Mind ∞
• Sunday Driver v
• I Think You Know ‰
• Searching for You ♣
• So Far Gone ‰
• Might See You There ∞
• Trouble Come Running (Spoon cover)
• Forever Elsewhere ∞
• Where I Belong ∞

∞ Hoopla (2026)
‰ single (2022)
♣ Weird Nightmare (2022)