by Caitlin Dennis | April 18th , 2024

All images are from Peter Mcpoland’s That Midwest Sound! Tour in Champaign, IL on 4/18/24.

Photo by Caitlin Dennis | @cait.dennis.photography

Peter Mcpoland is a young singer/songwriter from Vermont. Usually, you can find him on the edge of the internet (iykyk), or you can catch him now on his mini Midwest tour: That Midwest Sound Tour. He recently wrapped up his Piggy tour for his debut album of the same title late last year. To say Peter’s sound is unique is an understatement. His early singles and first EP have a slower, indie-alt sound, whereas Piggy took that sound and tossed in a rock-y electronic sound that his fans fell in love with.

For each city on this tour, Peter had an opener competition to showcase local Midwest bands. Champagne, Illinois got to experience Haunted X Humans. They’ve got a very distinctive indie-rock sound and brought a whole lot of energy to the stage! They are definitely a great smaller band for you to discover now and gatekeep later, and they just released their latest ep in late December. I definitely would recommend checking them out.
That Midwest Sound tour aimed to bring a new take to the sound that was witnessed on the Piggy Tour. Dwindling the band down to just Peter, his drummer, and his bassist, the trio still brought the playful energy they became known for on the previous tour.

Peter opened the show with “Mold”, a song with a very heavy rock sound, however with the limited band, they completely turned the song on its head in the best way you could think of. The focus of the song fell more on Peter’s lovely vocals, and was a refreshing take on the high energy opening song from the previous tour. It felt raw and stripped back and yet the energy was still at an all time high.

The previously known sound came back when he began to sing “Where You There” and he really began to warm up and begin bouncing around the stage. He recently released the single “Speed of the Sound (of you)” which fans were clearly excited to hear performed live for the only the second time ever (the first time being the previous night of this tour).

The twist on his sound came back as he sang “I Need You” in a lovely slow, stripped back version of the original, followed by “Eloise”. Despite these songs being altered in sound slightly, Peter couldnt help but bouncing around the stage and egging his fans on. After a few more songs, he slowed the show down again as he moved over to play the keys for “happy birthday babe (voice memo)”, a fan favorite that jerked plenty of tears throughout the audience. Though not originally on the set list, Peter also surprised fans by singing “I love you too” at the request of a fans sign. That is one of my personal favorites of his so that was a lovely surprise that was very welcomed by the audience. An unreleased song also made the setlist, and Peter gave us a little backstory on the song “Wait A While”. He revealed he thinks that its probably his favorite song he’s written, and he wrote it when he was just sixteen years old. The “midwest sound” that has been becoming so popular in the indie-alt scene lately clearly comes through in this adorable song that gets heavier in content the more you really listen despite its upbeat sound.

One of my favorite things about artists putting a ‘new spin’ on their previously released music is when after hearing it, you cant decide which version you love more. That is exactly what Peter did with “Digital Silence”. Completely stepping away from the hard rock and electronic sounds of the original, Peter graced our ears with a “indie-fied” version of the song that usually creates mosh pits at his shows. Lovely harmonies and tempo changes had me genuinely thinking if I’ll ever be able to listen to the song the same or which version I like better.

He ended the show with a cover of “Sofia” by Clairo and the song that one could argue really marked the beginning of his climb into success, “Romeo and Juliet” and left fans wanting more. Unfortunately we have to wait till the next tour for that. On the plus side though, because of the stripped back sound, smaller band, and different types of venues, Peter has not yet jumped off the stage into the pit and broken any bones like he did the last time he was in Illinois; he broke his foot from the jump to the pit and then continued to perform for twenty more minutes with said broken foot. I can’t speak on how the rest of the tour is going to go, but it seems Peter is going to take it easy on this run. His shows are always full of energy and an absolute blast, and he is sure to go on to see great success in his future.