KennyHoopla, Groupthink, Jackie Hayes at High Noon Saloon

We were lucky enough to have KennyHoopla living in our midst when he released the 2016 EP Beneath The Willow Tree. Its immersive, winsome blur of emo, bedroom pop, and hip-hop pointed to his emotional depth and a knack for cutting across genre boundaries. Since then, all that promise has exploded in unpredictable ways, and why should it be any different?

KennyHoopla has gone on to collaborate with Blink-182’s Travis Barker on tracks like “Estella,” on which he plunges unabashedly into pop-punk but still sounds every bit his yearning, uncontainable self. His love of big melodies and big emotions goes in a slightly gentler direction on this year’s single “Dirty White Vans,” which features a guest verse from Wiz Khalifa and perhaps the most KennyHoopla line imaginable: “I’m about to throw a party, only for the sad ones.” That sounds like a good plan for ringing in 2023. This show also features Groupthink—another musically versatile former Madisonian—and Chicago’s Jackie Hayes.

—Scott Gordon

Photo by RAHEEMISBLIND.