Wallice performed at The Atlantis in Washington D.C. on Feebruary 2, 2025 in support of her debut album The Jester. Ally Evenson opened up the evening.
On a cold February night in Washington D.C., fans lined up outside of The Atlantis in clown makeup and attire. Concertgoers packed into the 450-cap venue awaiting to see the LA singer-songwriter, Wallice. Like many rising indie music stars, Wallice gained an audience during the pandemic with the single “Punching Bag” (2020) and the follow-up “23” (2021), the latter I had in all my Covid-era playlists. She was also a jazz student at The New School in New York City before dropping out to pursue music full-time. Wallice signed with the London indie-label Dirty Hit in 2021, which boasts artists like The 1975, beabadoobee, Wolf Alice, Rina Sawayama and more. Wallice has toured as an opener with Chloe Moriondo, Jawny, and The 1975, but now she’s got her own headline tour across North America.
3 EPs later, we finally received a full-length album from Wallice in November of 2024 entitled The Jester: a 14-track glimpse into the life of always feeling like an “upcomer.” A jester, which in medieval times refers to a person portrayed as a “fool” to entertain the royals. The theme of wanting to impress is imprinted in the opening track, aptly titled “The Opener,” where Wallice laments about “playing right at 7:30” and how the concert starts the second she steps offstage. The third track, “Look At Me” has Wallice playing further into the fool: “Desperate, looking for redemption. Another misconnection. Screaming for attention. Look at me, look at me.” Track five “Clown Like Me” featuring The Strokes’s guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr., is an indie-rock jam about trying to “make it” in a creative industry: “There's no guarantee you won't get hurt. When you kiss the dirt. When you're doing it all for free.” There’s no guarantee to anything in life, but especially in a career in entertainment– you’re always waiting for your next big “hit.” One more gig, then I’ll get paid– is a thought I’ve often had throughout my many creative endeavors. But as many artists and creatives know, you do it for the love of the game, which is prevalent in The Jester, and throughout Wallice’s live show.
Ally Evenson opened up the show for Wallice at The Atlantis. She slinked onto the stage right at 7:30 (ironic, huh) in a knitted hat with ears, tied around her neck like a bonnet– a look that was definitely memorable. She played her first song about mid-twenties existentialism “Shitty Heaven,” which begs the questions: “Am I who I'm growing into? Does it make a difference now?” Ally continues to question the universe with “Where Are You Going?” filled with shimmering vocals and bombastic drums. “Cross My Fingers” is a pop earworm with vocals and synths sounding like Sabrina Carpenter. “One Trick Pony” is my personal fave from her, which is frankly, a song about sex, but more so the self-loathing that can come with it. Next, Ally performed “You Poor Thing,” which she introduced as a “really angry song,” so I was surprised when it started calm and wistful, but it crescendoed into the chorus with guitar distortions and screams. “The next song [“Throes”] is gay” Ally dryly tells the crowd, which is met with adoring applause.
Ally takes a moment to reflect on the release of her 2024 debut album Blue Super Love. She said releasing it was terrifying, and it’s “a very angry album, but also sweet and tender,” Ally laughed, “the duality of women. The next song is about a bad relationship,” she proceeds with “Virtual Bottle.” Ally warned the audience that the next song sounds really happy, but it’s actually really sad– she paused to reveal the subject matter– “it’s about a car crash.” I audibly said “oop.” I don’t know what I was expecting her to say, but that wasn’t it– the lyrical content with the song’s tone was certainly a jarring pair.
Before the final song, she remarked that red is her favorite color, but “that’s Wallice’s thing” and that her album just felt “blue.” Ally gave a shout out to her hat-maker @Va1sseau on Instagram. During the “Blue Super Love” performance she let out a startling gasp which led into heavy guitar distortion. I think this song was Ally at her best– by far the most expressive performance of her set. The song abruptly ended and a moment of silence fell over the crowd. Ally giggled and said “that’s it” and traipsed off stage.
Wallice began her headlining show with a clown march– whatever you're hearing in your head is probably correct. She fully committed to the clown/jester bit– dressed in a diamond patterned leotard with ruffled tulle around the neck and arms. Her face was painted white with dark eyeshadow and a bright red lip. To complete the look, Wallice had diamond tears stuck to her face. She performed a shortened version of “Curtains to Close,” which blended into “Clown Like Me.” Wallice played “The Hardest Working Man Alive,” which has a throwback reference to her Mr Big Shot 2023 EP: “'Cause I wanna be a big shot, but I don't know where to begin. Always said I'm gonna make it, but I started phoning it in” keeping with the theme of fighting to “make it.”
“Loser At Best” and “Boring” are both songs about Wallice’s long-term relationship with her boyfriend– being content with the “boring,” but also dealing with the desperation of missing him. Wallice paused to thank the crowd for coming. She said “I never know if there’s gonna be a little bit of people…” her voice trailed momentarily, “but there’s not a little bit of people! It’s pretty busy.” Wallice commented that her band joked with her backstage saying, “you wanna know how many people are out there? Don’t be surprised it’s pretty small.” After an awkward pause, she said," Ok next song whatever. That wasn’t a joke. Whatever,” and then began swaying to the beginning of “Best Friend.”
Wallice asked the crowd “Is anyone named Michael?” she then pointed to her bassist, “this is Mikey right here,” and laughed. The band began the early Wallice single “Hey Michael,” which accurately depicts your average insufferable film bro that probably traumatized you. Seriously though, who doesn’t have an ex or at least a horrible experience with a guy named Michael? It’s a great track, and features Wallice’s longtime producer and bestie Marinelli.
“Deadbeat” and “Hurry Babe” featured Wallice doing her best interpretive dancing. Regarding “Deadbeat” Wallice has called it her most “personal song to date,” and in Wonderland Magazine said “You can probably infer who this song could be about but it’s hard for me to talk about.” The pain of this song I think was expressed through her dancing, feeling aimless, but free.
“This is where it all started,” she remarked before “Punching Bag” and “23.” Hearing “23” live on the eve of my 24th birthday was extremely special to me. I remember playing this song on repeat especially leading up to my 23rd birthday– 23 has always been my favorite number so, “And I just can't wait to be all grown up and twenty-three” has utmost significance to me. Now I’m past that age and it feels weird– somehow 24 is even more unremarkable than 23. Wallice wrote “23” while living with her mother during the Covid era and the lyrics hit: between missing a fake-ID and thinking about “settling down”-- it perfectly captures the mixed feelings of getting older-- while also being hindered in growth due to Covid.
“Gut Punch Love,” a single from The Jester, is actually about a relationship Wallice’s mother had when she was younger. The story truly is a gut punch– “She was engaged to a man but then he went missing and she never heard from him again until years later his family said his body was found in the river in Osaka” (Wonderland Magazine). So, the true sadness of the lyrics: “I'm in the corner of the crowded roomI'm looking for you in every face. And I know I'll never see you again. I spend my whole life holding your space” are masked with a rather upbeat tempo and light-hearted tonal delivery. At the song’s conclusion, Wallice uttered a quiet “thanks,” which I found rather endearing.
“Will you guys dance with me for this one?” Wallice shyly asked ahead of the song “Funeral.” It begins as a lo-fi bedroom pop song, but becomes full indie rock at the chorus. The live performance concluded with a guitar shred sesh towards the end– bring back more shredding solos!
Wallice presented “I Want You Yesterday” as her current favorite off the album, and it’s mine too. It’s dreamy and catchy, with sliding vocals throughout the chorus. In an interview with Dork, Wallice said that “This song started as a beat that reminded me of something off a Beatles record,” which is interesting, because the song oddly reminded me of “Strawberry Fields Forever” when I first heard it. Is that song the true inspiration? Maybe not, but I can pretend our minds are cosmically linked.
Wallice instructed the crowd to give it up for Ally Evenson, her opener, before playing “The Opener.” Wallice said that she opened for Chloe Moriondo many tours ago, and that Ally Evenson played in Chloe’s band. Interesting turning of the tables, but they’re both on the rise now. The best moment during “The Opener” was the line “I put my life on pause” and the crowd went deadly silent then, “I'll stop and hold for applause,” the crowd was right on queue with appropriate screaming and applause– quite wholesome.
“Flash In The Pan” was played 2nd to last and Wallice describes it in Wonderland Magazine as “the focus track of the album.” It has a jazz style featuring lots of brass instruments, which makes for a perfect song to sway gently back and forth to. The guitarist, Cal, played trumpet for this song, and even had a solo. Wallice mentioned that she met Cal in high school, and that he played trumpet for the high school band.
Closing the set with “Heaven Has to Happen” was a perfect track to end on. In the first verse Wallice says, “April fools came late this year. I’m never in on the joke. Maybe I’m not meant for this career. Any minute I think it’ll go up in smoke” hammering in the theme of the jester. There’s even the line: “I think that I must be a fake. A jester in another life,” which Wallice said inspired the record’s title. There’s a horn solo towards the end of the song, and during the show, Wallice hopped on the soprano sax. The jazz-school musician really jumped out for a second.
There was no encore, so as soon as the song ended she shuffled offstage, but invited fans to come say hey at the merch stand. I really commend artists that do things like that for free. Don’t get me started on the ethics of paid meet and greets and “VIP experiences,” but it’s refreshing to see an artist who seems genuinely down to meet people. I approached super awkwardly, like one does, and had her sign the venue’s promotional poster, which a staff member kindly took off the wall for me. I handed HER a sharpie– truly a lost art– why do we assume people have sharpies on them at all times? Overall, I had a lovely evening; the crowd was nice and respectful, and the performances from Ally Evenson and Wallice were great. Support your openers, and support your local small venues. It’s a miracle we even have them these days.
Full photo gallery below. All pictures by Carolin Harvey/Tonitruale.
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