Last Tuesday, 2nd Grade’s show at Baby’s All Right was just like their sound—bright, jangly and vibrant. Their music feels walking to school on a fall morning and going out of your way to step on a crunchy leaf, chocolate milk cartons and tater tots, staying up so late at a sleepover that everything and nothing is funny. But then they’ll hit you with “King of Marvin Gardens” — “I want to spin in circles, you want to move in a straight line” — which feels like first and current heartbreak, nostalgia for a time that can’t be repeated.

The four piece—lead vocalist and guitarist Peter Gill, guitarist and vocalist Catherine Dwyer, bassist Lucas Knapp, and drummer Francis Lyons—brought expert, precise skill and warm stage presence. From Gill’s guitar string breaking on the first song to a repeated bit of calling Knapp “Big Lou,” they had lovely chemistry with each other and the crowd. The show celebrated the release of their fourth album, Scheduled Explosions, and wandered through tracks old and new. “Work Til I Die” from Wish You Were Here Tour Revisited, “Me & My Blue Angels” from Easy Listening, “Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider” from Hit to Hit, but the tracks from their October release were the heart of the show. 

Scheduled Explosions, like its predecessors, feels at once vintage and new—power pop that could only be made in 2024. “Fashion Disease” is pure fun; I’ve mentioned above my love for “King of Marvin Gardens”; and “Airlift” captures what makes 2nd Grade so unique—an earnest description of regret and longing ending with the repeated chorus, “Bury me at Pepperidge Farms…” There’s something so special about their blend of sincerity, nostalgia, and joy—I haven’t come across anything like it before or since.

Lily Konigsberg and Sunshine Convention opened the show, Konigsberg with powerful vocals and Sunshine Convention bringing high energy that readied the stage. The three put together a kinetic experience that really launched Scheduled Explosions.