Having five fairly similar pop punk bands on one tour may be excessive, but Trophy Eyes and Seaway’s co-headlining jaunt found its balance. Atlas attended the Arizona stop of The American Vacation Tour- here are the five best things we spotted at the show.

Hot Mulligan gives it their all

Here’s the thing- I don’t really “get” Hot Mulligan. The Michigan alt group has earned praise across the internet, with blog features and gushing write-ups on the band as the future of their genre. After watching their set, I can see the potential. The kids love Hot Mulligan. They start mosh pits, scream lyrics and crowd surf the entire set. While I might not understand the hype, they have people’s ears and that’s all that matters.

Can’t Swim’s tambourine

Can’t Swim is on the very of diving headfirst (pun very much intended) into a melodic post-hardcore career, but they’re still pop punk at heart. They generated just as much audience hype as Hot Mulligan and I’m going to attribute that to the perfectly placed tambo that made its way into several CS songs- almost like a fun little Easter egg for the kids in the pit.

Microwave being…really tall

Microwave is a fantastic band made up of all the tallest people they could find in Atlanta. Not to judge a band based on their appearance, but these guys look like they should be playing country covers in a Georgia bar, but make no mistake- these guys shred. Singer Nathan Hardy’s heartfelt vocals mix beautifully with guitarist Travis Hill’s melodic riffs. These guys could also be a post-hardcore outfit if they wanted to, but they’re just too sad. So instead we get Microwave, and thank goodness for that.

“Autumn” by Trophy Eyes

Australian rockers Trophy Eyes have a backlog of great songs, but the opening track to their newest album may have been my favorite moment of their co-headlining set. The American Dream is a strong album from front to back, and the band played a solid selection of songs from their discography throughout the night. The hits may have gotten the loudest shouts, but “Autumn” was the most special three minutes of their stellar set.

Everything is cool, man

Seaway is such a great time, but they get no respect. A good portion of the audience vacated the venue after Trophy Eyes’ set but Seaway never let that bog down their set. The stage’s bright colors gave their borderline sad pop punk lyrics a shiny new life. The die-hards in cuffed jeans and Vans still started the pit and the band gave them everything they had. So yeah, everything really is cool, man.

Story and photos by Olivia Khiel