Weakened Friends have been on the road with The Wonder Years for the last third of their “No Closer To Heaven” 10-year anniversary tour since the end of March. Wednesday night at Boston’s House of Blues marked Weakened Friends’ penultimate show as opening support.
As the first of a three-band billing, Weakened Friends kickstarted the evening’s event with their high-energy opening set. They made the most of their brief timeslot with a scattershot selection of their most popular songs from all three of their albums, including setlist staples “Blue Again” from “Common Blah” and the eponymous “Quitter” from their sophomore LP. Newer songs from their latest release “Feels Like Hell” stole the show though, with great response to tracks like “Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out),” “Smoke and Mirrors,” and “NPC.” It barely took any prodding to get the crowd to sing along loudly to Weakened Friends’ hard-driving cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” too. All the while, the band was at home on stage, delivering an excellent balance between practiced polish and the authentic rawness of live performance.
As the only New England stop on this tour, the Boston show was as close to a hometown stop as possible for the Portland, Maine-based Weakened Friends. While it was clear that the venue was filled with a sizable contingent of fans who were already well-familiar with the band, so too was it obvious that they won over many new fans by the end of their short set.
