Grayscale brought “Nella Vita” to the Bay State last week as their five city “Nella Vita” Pop Up Week hit Sommerville Thursday night.
After a last minute venue change and some traffic delays, the band set up their shop at the George Dilboy VFW around 8pm, much to the excitement of the near 70 fans in attendance- some of whom had lined up eighth hours early to ensure they would get into the exclusive event.
The free pop-up, which was limited to 120 guests, lasted about two hours and featured a number of structured stations that allowed fans to join in the band’s vision of “Nella Vita.”
But before the games and arts and crafts started, the band treated fans to a three song acoustic set, featuring “Painkiller Weather,” and “In Violet” off of their upcoming album “Nella Vita” along with fan favorite “Atlantic.”
Then the festivities began.
In one corner, the band had set up two tables full of arts and crafts supplies, along with hundreds of paper frames that fans could decorate and fill with polaroid pictures- something they could receive at the next station, which featured a blow up of the “Nella Vita” album cover and frontman Colin Walsh posing for photos.
This station also featured a special section dedicated to their magician friend, who showed fans a slew of magic tricks- much to their astonishment.
Then, there was “Pin The Man Bun on Nick Veno,” a playful mockery of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, that had fans trying to stick a blonde man bun on an altered photo of the band’s drummer.
The band also set up a special station where fans could listen to “Nella Vita,” in full, despite its release not coming until September 6th.
But that wasn’t all.
Prior to entry to the shop, the band handed out two raffle tickets of varying colors to fans. One of which would be used to enter a raffle to win Walsh’s sweater from the “In Violet” video- the other would grant them access to the most sought after event of the night: the piñata station.
Run by guitarist Andrew Kyne, the station started off with a piñata modeled after drummer Veno’s head.
While everyone loved the idea off the bat of winning the candy that was inside, fans also got the chance to win free concert tickets- should they successfully crack open one of the several piñatas.
And many fans did, despite Kyne’s attempts to thwart their success.
And last but not least- no Grayscale pop up would be complete without a merch table. And this one was a special one- featuring exclusive merch items that are no longer available for purchase on the band’s website, in addition to exclusive Pop Up Week merchandise that was made specifically for the Boston stop.
Throughout the entire two hours, in addition to playing games and watching magic performed by their magician friend, Grayscale fans got a chance to chat and hang out with the band members as they ran each station.
It was a truly special night, and after our exclusive listen, we cannot wait for “Nella Vita.”
You can catch Grayscale on their upcoming headlining tour, hitting Boston on October 2nd.
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