For the past two years, the pop-punk band The Wonder Years has been doing Halloween cover shows in their hometown of Philadelphia and other cities on the East Coast. This year, the band has done something a little differently. Instead of two or three cities, the band chose eight special cities around the United States to bring their 3rd (Occasionally) Annual Halloween Extravaganza. The tour kicked off in Columbus, Ohio on October 17th and wrapped up in Boston on the 27th.

In addition to the in-costume cover sets, the band performed a set of their own, as did the openers along with a costume contest and free candy. Some of the costumes done by fans this year were Blue’s Clues, Where’s Waldo, and characters from Adventure Time.

This year’s lineup featured Future Teens, as Carly Rae Jepsen in select cities, Homesafe as Weezer, in select cities, and Trash Boat as Oasis in the remaining. The Wonder Years went very out of character for their genre and dressed and performed as Limp Bizkit. 

The second date of the tour, Millville, PA, located near Pittsburgh had Future Teens/Carly Rae Jepsen and Homesafe/Weezer as their openers. 

Normally, Canadian pop-star, Carly Rae Jepsen is known for her mainstream upbeat pop songs, but Future Teens put their own spin on the set. Playing some deeper cuts from Jepsen’s albums, it had really set a sad, melancholy vibe in the venue, even during “Call Me Maybe.” However, the Future Teens set was full of fun, wholesome banter between lead vocalist Amy Hoffman and guitarist Daniel Radin. The band played songs off of their debut full-length, Breakup Season, which was released in mid-September.  

Homesafe as Weezer took the stage next, performing popular hits like “Buddy Holly,” “The Sweater Song,” and “Say It Ain’t So.” Along with the cover set, Homesafe played songs from the two full-length albums “One” and “Evermore.”

The two (well, four) opening sets seemed to fly by due to the anticipation of seeing Limp Bizkit in 2019. Chaos seemed to insue when The Wonder Years vocalist, Dan “Soupy” Campbell walked on stage as the one and only, Fred Durst. Playing only the most popular Limp Bizkit hits, there was consistent crowdsurfing and moshing during the cover set, especially during “Break Stuff.” At the end of the Limp Bizkit set, Durst (Campbell) commented, “The Wonder Years are going to come on and cry and whine all over this stage.”

Even with the cover set, The Wonder Years still performed fifteen original songs, which had everyone in the venue sweaty and exhausted by the time they encored with “Came Out Swinging.”

Despite the time, there was not one point of The Wonder Years set that showed low energy. From the first Limp Bizkit song to their encore, fans were jumping, singing, and crowdsurfing to the stage. 

As Campbell announces the encore, he says something along the lines of, “We have been The Wonder Years from Philidelphia, Pennsylvania and we came out swinging.”