Making a Dent in Vegas – Enjoy’s Exploited Tour

By: Vlada Stark

August 22nd, 2023 – It was a sweltering, even sticky, late summer night in Vegas. Monsoon season has been upping the dreaded August humidity. Yet, fans still poured into the Oxford 24 theatre for Enjoy’s West Coast tour with opening punk bands Bad Vacation and Dumb Fucks, hailing from Brooklyn and Los Angeles, respectively.  Being Wyatt Shears’ alternative-indie-esque side project away from The Garden (an experimental drum and bass duo alongside his twin brother Fletcher Shears) made Enjoy a must-see, especially with his sparse tour dates. 

Bad Vacation opened the night with a fusion of New York hardcore and evocative rock’n’roll. Their high-voltage atmosphere and tenacious soundscape consumed the incoming audience as they poured in. Moshers quickly took to their tracks. Although the crowd wasn’t initially receptive to the following band, Dumb Fucks, quick-paced tracks such as “a.c.a.b” and the fervor of their instrumentals eventually won viewers over. 

Enjoy was, of course, the climax of the show. With Shears playing classics such as “Small Car Big Wheels” and “Fold Ya’ Up Like a Blanket” along with tracks off his new album Exploited, the set was a satisfying clash of Enjoy’s more nostalgic, funkier sound and Exploited’s punkier overtones. The crowd was ecstatic, high off of Enjoy’s phenomenal live presence. After a deafening encore chant, Enjoy ended the night with his most popular song to date, “I’ve Wasted So Much Time.”

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