As soon as the doors to the Aggie Theatre opened, fans and supporters kept coming in. With an intimate venue like the Aggie Theatre, attendees are able to experience the music in an up-close setting with ground level admission. All three of the bands had merchandise stands set up, selling their t-shirts and stickers. Fans admired these tables and secured their very own band. It was lovely to see all the fans greeting one another and talking in their groups. This concert was a great place of familiarity, bringing together many Fort Collins locals since both Lady Denim and Neighborhood Watch have ties to Colorado State University. The energy and anticipation was building as the time for Neighborhood Watch to perform was approaching. The Lineup for the concert was: The Athletics, Neighborhood Watch, Lady Denim.
After The Athletics shredded their set, Neighborhood Watch took the stage. Neighborhood Watch is a band composed of five dudes who met as students at Colorado State University. The band includes lead singer Logan Baker, bassist Ian McMurry, drummer Toby Yoder, and guitarists CJ Herbert and Sage Franks. The group released their first EP “Noise Complaint” on May 5th, 2023. These songs are featured in the KCSU and you could hear them by tuning into 90.5 KCSU Fort Collins!
Their setlist included:
“Impasse” – unreleased, original song
“Tucson” – off their Noise Complaint EP
“We Fell in Love in October (cover)” – girl in red
“Stuck on You” – original
“Growing Pains” – unreleased, original song
“Ashtray” – original, off their Noise Complaint EP
“Strange Things” – unreleased
“Maple Syrup” – unreleased
“Lucky Strike” – original, off their Noise Complaint EP
“All That I have/All That I Had” – original, unreleased
Toby Yoder, the drummer of the band, said “it’s always kind of a blur in retrospect, pretty much the same way a concert ends up being a blur (in a good way of course). Once the muscle memory kicks in and a surprising amount of it becomes subconscious, you end the show like ‘wait…that was an hour?'” Needless to say, the band slayed their performance and their stage presence is always memorable.
Neighborhood Watch included five unreleased songs in their setlist. Loyal Neighborhood Watch fans may have heard these songs for the first time. These songs are amazing and full of emotion. The band members often base their lyrics on real life experiences and situations. The band members sang a song with lyrics, “I miss my friends, I miss my life” which hits close to home for many loyal fans and followers of the band. Fans gathered close to the front of the stage were seen embracing one another and old friends came around and greeted one another, and this was a truly beautiful moment. Music always has and always will have the power to unite us, no matter what our differences are.
While the band has done multiple covers per show in the past, it was wonderful to see how they only played one cover and the rest of the songs were originals. This added a feeling of success and originality to the performance. The cover of girl in red’s hit song “We Fell in Love in October,” was a very emotional moment, especially as this was played during the peak of the fall season. The lead singer Logan is always good with the crowd and getting people to interact with the band.
Neighborhood Watch debuted their career with a backyard show at one of the band member’s houses. Many fellow college students attended and danced on a tarp, covering the snow on the ground. It is inspiring to see how much the band has grown, from backyard shows to performing at the Aggie Theatre!
Lady Denim needs no explantation. To wrap up the young new local sets, the iconic CSU alumni closed the show with nothing but fun energy to keep the local band energy engaged. My personal favorite was when they sung their hit “Pipe Dream,” which is played quite often on KCSU’s airwaves.
Overall, this concert proved to us that the local music scene will always be strong, and big acts will always come back to good old FoCo, no matter how big they get.
Thank you to The Aggie Theater for allowing us to come to the show and review.