Wednesday at Hollywood Avondale felt less like a traditional concert and more like hanging out in somebody’s garage while an incredibly talented band casually tore through a set in front of you. The venue was shoulder-to-shoulder, but not uncomfortably so. There was still enough breathing room to soak in the atmosphere, which only added to the night’s intimacy.
Kiwi indie band Awning opened the night, which turned out to be the perfect support act for Wednesday. Their layered sound drifts between dreamy softness and distorted emotional chaos without warning. One moment, the music felt delicate and vulnerable; then suddenly, everything exploded into a wave of guitar. They played new unreleased songs, which made the set feel even more special. There’s a looseness and humility to Awning that makes the performance feel human rather than overly polished, and the transition into Wednesday’s set felt incredibly natural, like both bands were exploring different versions of the same energy.
Awning, Hollywood Avondale
What stood out throughout the night was the crowd itself. Very young Gen Z fans stood alongside boomers and longtime indie music lovers, creating one of the more genuinely mixed audiences you could imagine. Somehow, Wednesday’s music managed to bridge all of it naturally.
Karly Hartzman spent much of the evening chatting casually with the audience between songs, making the set feel warm, relaxed, and deeply personal rather than overly polished. One of the best moments came when she shared a story about the band’s previous visit to New Zealand, where a local guy named Rob took them scuba diving. That trip apparently inspired a new song, currently titled Dune 2, after Rob asked the band, “Have you seen Dune 2?” The whole room laughed. It was funny, oddly wholesome and exactly the kind of interaction that made the evening feel so intimate.
The set itself balanced fan favourites, unreleased songs and even a cover, giving longtime listeners plenty to hold onto while still keeping things fresh. Hearing newer material in such a close-knit venue almost felt like getting an early glimpse into the band’s creative process before the rest of the world catches up.
Wednesday’s sound sits somewhere between indie rock, alt country, and shoegaze, but live, the band leans even harder into the noise-rock side. Hartzman can shift from soft, conversational vocals into full screaming within seconds, giving the songs a raw, cathartic energy that feels chaotic in the best possible way. Huge walls of fuzzy guitar crash into delicate country-style storytelling without ever feeling disjointed.
It’s also what made the mixed-age crowd make so much sense. Older fans seemed drawn to the country storytelling and classic rock influence, while younger fans connected with the distorted shoegaze guitars and emotional intensity. Wednesday somehow makes all of those genres coexist naturally.
Hollywood Avondale turned out to be the perfect setting for it all. The vintage theatre atmosphere stripped away any sense of pretension and made the whole evening feel strangely sincere. Rather than delivering a polished indie rock spectacle, Wednesday created something far more memorable: a show that felt intimate, loud, vulnerable, funny and deeply human all at once.
Awning, Hollywood Avondale
