By Dani McKenzie | 3 April 2023
On their first two nights supporting Inhaler on their 2023 North American tour, Sun Room performed to two sold out crowds at The 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. These two concerts were the third and fourth times I have gotten the chance to experience Sun Room live.
To say that they have grown since supporting Louis Tomlinson on tour in February 2022 would be a massive understatement. The band are almost unrecognizable compared to the performers they were a year ago. Don't get me wrong, Sun Room were a great band then—but they are spectacular now.
The band – made up of Luke Asgian on lead vocals and guitar, Ashton Minnich on guitar, Max Pinamonti on bass, and Gibson Anderson on drums – have built on the fantastic and contagious energy at their very core. Their set was marked by their phenomenal talent, a constant groove, and incredible instrumental breakdowns every other song. The heightened fun really comes from their growth in the realm of audience interactions and on-stage interactions between the band themselves. With candid moments of just having a good time together or laughing about a mishap, the band members' charisma shines from being completely themselves.
The band's jam sesh during "Something That You're Missing," giving each member an instrumental solo and subsequently making the crowd go absolutely wild, was a major highlight. And getting to see "Sunset Garage" live for the first time since its release on Outta Their Minds kept the whole crowd engaged. (I'm also pretty sure that every time I experience "I Want You" live it adds about 10 years to my life.) With no lulls in the set, Sun Room had the crowd singing and dancing along virtually the entire time, smiling right along with them.
With the release of their new EP Outta Their Minds at the end of February, Sun Room added four new bangers to their discography, all of them making an appearance during their set (Sunset Garage!!!). The fact that the band have already had to sacrifice some of their most popular songs in their opening set is really telling of their continued release of absolute bops.
Experiencing these songs live only makes you love them and appreciate them more—the surf rock vibes, storytelling lyricism, and catchy, singable choruses will be around for a long time. As a band that has consistently improved live and shines most together onstage, you can sense their potential as they come into their own and grow with their experiences.
A big chunk of the crowd at the D.C. shows of Inhaler's tour held dual citizenship in both Inhaler's and Sun Room's fanbases. This is the third time the two bands have toured together, and the audience got to witness a reunion of sorts: a mutual "We love those guys," across the two sets. While the two bands have very different vibes, I think the string of fantastic music and enormously talented artists held the entire concert together.
Sun Room are fun, endlessly talented, genuine, passionate, and having the time of their lives. And they just keep getting better. It’s evident that they are having the absolute best time together on stage, and they always bring the audience along with them.
You can catch Sun Room on the remaining dates of Inhaler's North American Tour or on their southeast tour towards the end of April. Outta Their Minds is available to stream on all the usual platforms.
