There was not much variety in music where I grew up. There was Top 50 radio, a Christian station, and 10 or 12 country music stations. We didn’t have a record store. Our lives were full of Backstreet Boys and Nickelback until the day my older brother returned from his freshman year at UW-Oshkosh for the summer with a pile of new records for us to listen to. Names like The Get-Up Kids, The Response, and Hey Mercedes. Subsequent summers would be spent finding new songs by new bands, kicking off a lifelong love of indie-rock and Midwest emo. And for me, it all began that summer.
I state this to say I’ve been a fan of Hey Mercedes for a while.
So, in 2025, when I saw that Braid was going to headline a phenomenal WSME Backyard BBQ lineup at Humboldt Park, I had to attend. I decided to take my then-three-year-old daughter to her first true rock concert. With it being outside, I didn’t have to worry about crowds. With there being a park nearby, I didn’t have to worry about her wanting to leave early.
What had been anticipated as a nice evening turned out to be one of the greatest parenting experiences of my life. My daughter still asks when we can attend another “grass concert,” as she calls it. I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to see them perform again, but it was an experience I’ll never forget.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long. On Friday, Bob Nanna, Todd Bell, and Damon Atkinson returned to town with Michael Shumaker as Hey Mercedes, their first time back under the moniker in more than a decade.
Opening with sets from Chicago band Her Head’s On Fire and locals The Hallelujah Ward seemed appropriate for a headliner that comes to us via Chicago and Milwaukee. This was my first time seeing either band, and I truly hope it wasn’t the last. They were both exceptional, providing new entries in a genre that somehow feels simultaneously nostalgic and currently trending.
Not to make us wait too long, Hey Mercedes followed after a quick turn-around. The band’s only stage props were a couple of lamps on either side of the drum kit. Turns out, they didn’t need anything else. Their presence on stage was enough.
Leading off with what felt like the exceptionally appropriate “Quality Revenge At Last,” the band proceeded to play every song I was hoping to hear from Everynight Fire Works and Loses Control. Expertly pacing the set by spreading out front-of-mind hits like “A-List Actress” and “Eleven To Your Seven” with what I would consider deeper cuts like “Roulette Symptoms” (although not so deep that members of the crowd didn’t know every song by heart), this was a band that played like they never took a hiatus.
The playing was tight, the banter was fun, and the sound was so good I was once more transported to 2001, driving around rural Wisconsin in my brother’s car.
After the excellent “Our Weekend Starts On Wednesday,” Hey Mercedes eschewed the traditional “will they or won’t they” pre-encore break by announcing that they are currently working on new music. That music is not stage ready yet, but the news certainly gave the crowd something to look forward to in the future.
After 17 songs over about 90 minutes, the concert ended, as it always must, becoming yet another wonderful memory. Walking outside we were greeted with the reminder that, yes, it was indeed still winter, the snow covering the tracks of those who left the venue not five minutes before.
Full of reflection, excited for the future, thankful for the present, I returned to my car, my footprints filling in behind me.
This morning, the first thing my now-four-year-old daughter asked me was “Did you thank the guys from the grass concert for me?” Even 25 years after their first album, Hey Mercedes is still very much a fixture in the soundtrack of my life, and now my daughter’s as well.
Thanks guys, it’s certainly been a blast.
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