As an avid music enthusiast, I try to catch every shoegaze performance. On April 20th, I was fortunate enough to see three shoegaze acts in one night. For those unfamiliar with the genre, shoegaze emerged in the late 1980s and is often characterized as a “wall of sound.” Musicians like My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and the Mary Chain, and the Swirlies layer noisy guitar effects over lush, dreamy vocals, often gazing down at their pedals while performing, hence the name “shoegaze.”

WOW Hall captured the genre’s atmosphere perfectly, hosting an ethereal night featuring three of my favorite acts: Midrift, Julie, and Fleshwater.

Walking through the doors, I was already in awe. The grand hall was packed like a constellation of punk and indie heads, somehow holding a massive crowd within its orbit. It wasn’t long before a fan in faded bootcut jeans and Y2K boots turned to me and blurted, “See you in the pit.”

Midrift

The room roared as Midrift took the stage. Lead guitarist Gus Mehrkam, wearing a light cyan trapper hat, stayed locked in on his pedals as the band flooded the room with shimmering chords and textured guitar effects.

Behind him, Kai Neukermans delivered explosive drumming, his solos nuking the crowd with energy (pun intended). When the band opened with my favorite, “Unrequited,” the audience immediately collapsed into a swirling mosh pit, pulling bodies in every direction.

What stood out most was how short their songs were, most clocking in at around two minutes, yet each one hit harder live. I was especially excited to hear a track from their new album, Silhouette, which further cemented their distinct sound.

Ultimately, Midrift was the perfect opener, setting the tone for Julie and Fleshwater’s sets.

Julie

Having seen Julie open for Alex G in Eugene last summer, their angsty lyrics and grungy shoegaze guitar textures were once again mesmerizing. Adding to the night’s surreal atmosphere, the audience was treated to thirty minutes of opera during intermission.

On stage, the band felt effortlessly loose and mysterious, moving through their set beneath ominous, hazy lighting that cast their silhouettes as they swayed with their instruments. Throughout the performance, everything blended seamlessly. Alexandria Elizabeth’s anguish-driven vocals, Keyan Pourzand’s sweeping basslines, and Dillon Lee’s relentless drumming, all intertwined into a wall of sound. 

Although many fans complained about not being able to hear the vocals, I figured the band had intentionally toned them down to let the heavier instrumentals take over. Julie’s performance was also unique in how they filled the silence between songs with a faint radio static.

My top Julie songs of the night were “Skipping Tiles” and “Feminine Adornments,” which I own on a T-shirt from its music video. Lastly, I was hoping for more crowd engagement from the band, but the performance was incredible nonetheless.

Fleshwater

Next up was Fleshwater, the band most people were eager to see. By this point, my body felt completely slammed, yet I still held my Canon PowerShot above the mosh, determined to capture the band’s blend of post-hardcore, shoegaze, and metal.

As vocalists Marisa Shirar and Anthony DiDio traded piercing lines, the crowd erupted into chaos once again. The band unleashed a raw, reverb-drenched wall of sound that the audience latched onto immediately. Their visceral emo and hardcore energy charged the room, sparking waves of crowd surfing and stage diving across the venue.

My friends and I spotted the guy from earlier, the one in the bootcut jeans and Y2K boots, launching himself off the stage eight consecutive times. On one of those dives, I took a huge kick to the nose.

What made Fleshwater so powerful was the smooth dynamic between the members, their voices and instruments teetering off each other like a piercing dialogue. I especially enjoyed “Kiss the Ladder,” which opened with swirling, almost bashful keypad melodies before crashing into painfully resonant lyrics that cut straight through the crowd.

Final Thoughts

I left the night feeling more than fulfilled, having experienced Midrift, Julie, and Fleshwater all in one lineup. Considering how relatively small shoegaze remains (often overshadowed by the more dominant genres of the ’90s) it was remarkable to see these bands reshape it into their own distinct style. Each act flowed into the next, building on that gorgeous wall of sound.