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Early in the set, The Unlikely Candidates play “High Low”. It’s about losing touch with friends over time. “Sometimes I get so high, so low / Where did all my good friends go? / I keep on looking for somebody like me.” It’s a great alternative rock song.

Next, they play “Someone To Remind Me” from their 2022 album, Panther Island. This is an excellent pop rock song and showcases the vocals of lead singer, Kyle Morris. 

They use some extremely bright lights during the show. Wearing sunglass is highly recommended. 

Late in the night, they play “Oh My Dear Lord”, a 2018 single. The guitars on this one sound absolutely fantastic. It has an anthemic rock sound similar to Welshly Arms. 

For the penultimate song, they play their latest single, “Roses”. During the song, Morris picks up a rose and sings with it as a prop. “I fucking hate it when you lie / And I’m so frustrated I could die.” At the end, he tosses the rose into the crowd. The woman who ends up with it asks, “Does this mean I’m the next one to get married?” 

They end the night with their biggest hit, “Novocaine”. It has over 71 million streams on Spotify. Midway into the song, Morris comes down into the audience to jump around and sing. “I can’t change / Guess you could blame it on my left side brain / I should know better but you know I know, I know / I ain’t ever gonna change”! This is a fantastic rocker and the perfect choice to end their set with. It won’t be surprising if they end up playing much larger venues soon. 

See a recent setlist here. 

Cost of a ticket: $28

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Exceptional Value

Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

Surfer Girl takes the stage first. They play “Evil” from their 2022 album, Sunrise. “Evil walks my way sometimes / But I’ve seen where it’s coming from / So I give it hell but let it run / Even if I press rewind / I can’t fix everything I’ve done / So I might as well be giving love.” This song has such a great vibe that takes the audience away to a warm tropical beach.

Iration formed in 2004 in Hawaii and since then they have toured relentlessly earning them the honor to headline at The Riviera Theatre. They are now touring to support their latest album, Where It All Began. Early on they play “My Kinda Vibe” from this album. “Feeling good and it’s Friday, nice / Got the bomb bud and the bottles on ice / Herb smokin’, it’s all green lights.” This song has a great reggae groove and proves they are still making great music. 

Iration also show the rock side of their sound with some shredding solos and heavy distortion. They demonstrate how the sound is evolving and that reggae is still alive and well today.

Midway into the set, they play Wait and See. This song, along with Automatic, which they play later, are great examples of how they have a more upbeat and pop friendly sound than the opener Tribal Seeds.  The contrast between the bands is evident, yet they share a similar reggae rock backbone. The combination of the overhead lights and the large LED screen behind the band made for fantastic lighting the entire show.

Later on, they launch into “Summer Nights”. “Getting high, thinking about the summer nights” sing the whole crowd as they sway back and forth and enjoy this great reggae groove. It truly is a fantastic summer night of music. 

See a recent setlist here. 

Cost of a ticket: $48
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Half Price > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney

A man is walking his dog through his neighborhood. He gets distracted and the dog gets away. He finds him shortly afterwards with another dead dog in his mouth. Did he kill this dog? Or did he just find him after coyotes killed him? When he tells his wife what happened, they must decide whether or not to keep this a secret. 

Micah Schraft has written a great exploration of this difficult situation. It cleverly becomes more complicated when they start to develop a friendship with the other dog’s parents. 

At 95 minutes, it would be nice to have an intermission. There are plenty of scene changes where it can be easily added.  Join the Pro-Intermission movement here. 

Jack Hradecky is stellar as the man, who thinks his dog did kill the other dog, but wants to get his dog professional help. Kaitlyn Gorman is excellent as the girlfriend, who helps him lie to the neighbors and hide what happened. Hattie Hodes is solid as the neighbor who is so glad to be invited over and to make new friends. James Lewis is superb as the neighbor who has strong opinions and believes he can train their unruly dog. 

Cost of a ticket: $33

PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Good Value +

Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Get tickets now for A Dog’s House through June 14th!

Quinn Delaney