By Maggie Odegaard

Four of our Scoper's visited Chicago over winter break to see The Walter's! Read all about AGM Maggie Odegaard's perspective of the concert. 

The Walters were a band that offered a soundtrack to my early high school days. Tender songs like “I Love You So” and “Cottage Roads” painted an idyllic picture of a simple life to escape to. They felt like a band I could gate keep guilt-free. As the years went by, The Walters faded from my mind some, partly due to the fact that I grew up and started listening to new music, and partly due to the fact that The Walters stopped making music together. Still, I kept a spot for them in the files of my brain, when I would randomly decide to revisit their limited discography and embrace the nostalgia that came with it.

Fast forward to my senior year of college, and one day I start hearing this silly little song I used to know all over TikTok. The Walters, like so many other great and long-forgotten bands, had been revived by a group of Gen-Zers. This resurgence led me to bond with Jennie (SCOPE’s Marketing Director and great friend of mine) over how we both loved this band in high school. Then The Walters surprised us all and announced 3 shows, one of which was in Chicago, a mere three and a half hours from Iowa City. Jennie and I snatched those tickets up asap, and soon found out our SCOPE littles, Cat and Sarena, had also had the same idea.

So the four of us set out to the Windy City for just a night, eating slices of NY style pizza before the show, and sitting at the House of Blues bar to avoid the cold. The venue was reminiscent of First Ave. in Minneapolis, where I once saw The 1975 when I was a 15 year old. The energy the band, especially the lead singer, brought to the stage was contagious. The families of the band members were in the balcony, and it was clear that this show was a reunion of sorts- something special that everyone had been waiting for for a long time. The setlist was fun and dancey, and it was made clear that The Walters were back and here to stay. The best moment of the concert for me came during the encore, when The Walters played the two singles from “Hunk Beach/I Wanna Be Good.” Not the band's most popular songs, they do happen to be my favorites, and I wasn’t necessarily expecting to hear them. “I Wanna Be Good” was soft and tender, the lead singer alone on stage. Hunk Beach was loud and final, bringing the rest of the band out. The crowd was trying to mosh which is actually hilarious because it’s The Walters? Like have you heard their music? Regardless, it was a great song to cap off the night and to bring my memories of this band full circle.

We also met the lead singer after the show, he was cool and confirmed that new music is on the way, in case you were wondering. And while I didn’t know the people I went with to the show in high school, it was so sweet that we all had separate memories of listening to this band when we were younger, and we came together to finally see them when we were older. This show brought me back to being 15, longing for a life that I had not created yet. I’m working on creating that life now, and I’m glad The Walters will be along for the ride.