For their first full show in years, The Neighbourhood opened their WOURLD TOUR at the sold-out Moody Center in Austin. Fans were full of anticipation to see this new chapter of the band and they more than delivered on their performance.
Before they took the stage, they brought along openers Noise Dept. and Neggy Gemmy for this leg of the tour. Noise Dept. had a chill DJ vibe, remixing several of The Neighbourhood’s tracks, and threw in his own vocals that were pretty impressive. However, his laid-back approach felt too restrained to give the arena crowd the proper excitement to start the night.
Neggy Gemmy, on the other hand, brought loads of energy, jumping and smiling throughout her set. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t seem to connect with her sound, not making it feel like the right vibe as an opening act.
If anything, the disappointment of the openers made the crowd that much more excited to see the boys take the stage. When their classic, black-and-white house logo appeared on the screen, it felt like an eruption through the Moody Center.
The band came out on stage, but all eyes went straight to Jesse Rutherford. Not only because he’s the frontman, but his bright red leather jacket easily had the most color in a sea full of black-donned fans.
After years away, the setlist was a real question mark. The California-based band nailed a good mix of songs from new and old, especially for an hour-and-a-half performance.
They opened up with “Hula Girl” and “OMG” off their comeback album, “Ultrasound,” but then got into fan favorites early with “Reflections” and “Nervous” getting their first ever performances live. “Pretty Boy” and “Cherry Flavoured” are more recent favorites of mine so I was glad to see them performed as well.
Jesse sounded fantastic, and he had this suave yet sassy and playful presence on stage that I wasn’t expecting. He brought the liveliness to the show when it was needed but he brought the calmness that the more vulnerable songs of theirs required, and the entire band sounded tight the whole night.
There was also a loud audience reaction when the band played “Devil’s Advocate.” As the song was starting, I began to hear loud cheers towards the front of the crowd and thought that he was maybe moving his way into the crowd to be closer to the fans.
Not at all—he had just taken his shirt off, and when they showed it on the big screens, the crowd went feral.
Beyond their performance, this tour showcased how much could be accomplished with minimal stage space. Initially, I thought it was only going to be the band standing in front of a screen, but they accomplished thoughtful visual design.
The lighting was excellent, with more subdued, black-and-white lights during the earlier eras of their music and more strobes and vibrant colors during the later parts of their discography. The camerawork was dynamic, full of frenetic shots following Jesse as he danced around the band.
“You Get Me So High” featured clouds floating across the screen, while “Daddy Issues” used subtle swaying of palm trees, echoing the emotions of Wiped Out!
My favorite shot floored me during “The Beach” where the camera was high up and pointing down on Jesse, giving the illusion of him walking along a beach shoreline.
What was lacking, especially for their first show back, was Jesse and the band not having talked with the crowd more. Even after their last song, he and the band just left the stage suddenly without saying anything, leaving everyone in the crowd a bit confused.
They also used this pre-recorded synthetic-sounding voice to transition the acts of the show, talking to fans about how the band loves them and things of that nature, and I didn’t see the point of that aspect of the show being there. Whenever this synthetic voice spoke, it could have been replaced with Jesse saying a few words, or even another song or two, to make the setlist even more exciting.
However, they nailed the emotion to end the show perfectly. They got into the song that almost every single fan of The Neighbourhood became a fan with, “Sweater Weather.” Lights lit up and voices filled the arena, creating a special moment that is sure to be a lifetime memory for all those Neighbourhood fans.
The final track of the night was “Softcore,” which had danceable energy, vibrant colors and a touch of pyro to end the night, followed by one last image on the screen of that iconic black-and-white house.
Since 2013, The Neighbourhood truly has meant the “WOURLD” to so many people. It’s amazing that all their fans from all around the globe will get to experience the band live again, and us here in Texas were the lucky first ones to see them back and performing better than ever.
