Concert Review: Allison’s Halo, Wisp, and Panchiko at Stubb’s

Early ‘90s shoegaze act Allison’s Halo, Nu gaze artist Wisp, and lost wave band Panchiko played a fuzzy concert full of looper effects and emotive vocals at Stubb’s on Nov. 2, 2024. 

Written by Rachel Joy Thomas

Photos by Elina Carrasco

British lostwave band Panchiko’s origin story remains one of the most intriguing in music history. Formed in 1997, Panchiko had a brief three-year stint before eventually disbanding as the then-teenagers started separate lives. The Band recorded only a few copies of its 2000 EP D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, with one rotted CD eventually ending up at an Oxfam charity shop 16 years later. The EP’s new owner found the disc, now completely warped, and uploaded the lost media online. 

Eventually, a near cult following developed around D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, partly due to the mystery surrounding the group. Thousands of fans searched for the band’s members, eventually tracking down Owain Davies in 2020. Internet sleuths pinned a code on the CD to a small shop on a Nottingham street. Upon learning how many people still loved the EP, the three band members — Davies, Andy Wright, and Shaun Ferreday — decided to reunite and make music again. 

New and veteran acts joined Panchiko for its performance at Levitation festival. Allison’s Halo, a staple of any ‘90s shoegaze fiend’s diet, and Wisp, a newcomer spearheading shoegaze’s newest wave, joined Panchiko to play dreamy, cascading sets.

ALLISON’S HALO

The night crept in as Allison’s Halo walked onto Stubb’s large outdoor amphitheater at 6:58 p.m. The group — Catherine Cooper (vocals, guitar), Adam Cooper (guitar), David Roger (vocals, bass), and Roger Brogan (drums) — returned to its ‘90s roots after multiple extended hiatuses. Levitation’s stage packed hundreds eager to see the group explore tracks from its early discography in a short but sweet 37-minute atmospheric set. 

Opening with the cinematic, “Sunshy,” Catherine Cooper hummed with dynamism, vocals blending perfectly with the heavy, crashing guitar plucks. The married Coopers harmonized, with Catherine providing breathless vocals and Adam assisting with floating, dreamy sounds.

“Raindrop,” another track from the nostalgic Eyedazzler, percolated through the venue as Catherine swelled with sweetened vocals, “A summer's spent that burned me up / Just counting love and love me notes / Now I found they're numberless.” With a voice slightly deeper with time, Catherine added etheral, dream-pop guitar medleys, syncing with Brogan’s crackling snare drum. 

“Dozen,” the last song from the band’s set that night, twanged with lush, reverb-soaked noise. The fluid track climbed as the band switched on effects with tapping feet, singing in unhurried whispers that complemented tectonic basslines and a reverberating outro.

WISP 

After a small hiatus, Wisp, the stage name of Natalie R. Lu, walked onto Stubb’s stage at 8:02 p.m., ready to begin her echoing, transcendent set with “Pandora.” Riding out the song’s minute long introduction, the ghostly performer slowly beckoned enveloping sound into fruition, building until it exploded into a layered, crashing chorus. 

Heavy, saturated noise gave way to the similarly fuzzy and enigmatic “Tangled dreams.” Guitar riffs breathed through the venue, swirling with reverb and overdrive splashing in a wash of beautiful shoegaze intrigue.

White, interlaced visuals of Wisp’s backing band were paired with scattered, ethereal videos of forests playing overhead, visually matching the aesthetics of Pandora, Lu’s 2024 EP. The visualizer collided with the ghostly apparitions of the backing band, haunting the space above concert goers. 

“Hi Austin, how are you doing? It’s so good to be back,” Lu told the crowd in between songs, tuning up for “Enough for you.” The moment the orange-haired singer spoke into her mic, a plethora of phones shot up to record her, utterly hypnotized. Even as she experienced minor technical difficulties onstage, Wisp remained staunchly conversational and polite. Later in the set, audience members screamed to ask the artist what her favorite Whirr song was.  

“What’s my favorite Whirr song right now? It’s probably ‘Blue Sugar,’” she replied, before whittling into her next track. 

Thanking the crowd for coming, the dreamy performer introduced a brand new song, “I remember how your hands felt on mine,” christening the melancholic ballad to a live audience. The ethereal singer softly melodized the second verse: “Is it so wrong (Is it so wrong) / To let this linger on (Linger on)  / Here for me still (Here for me still).” 

Finishing out her immersive set, Wisp closed with the velvety, languid “Your Face.” The nu gaze singer’s obscured vocals shimmered underneath washy guitars and layered drums as she sang, “You look at me the same / But I can't reciprocate.” At 8:43 p.m., the introspective shoegaze crooner stepped off the stage as technicians rushed to set up for the headliner.

PANCHIKO

Around 9:19 p.m., audience members noticed the bellowing sound of “Black Beauty” trickling into the venue. With the Dennis King song introducing the band, Panchiko stepped onto the stage only a minute later, basking in the country track’s glow before segueing into its set. 

Panchiko’s introductory visuals phased onto the screen: eyes floated across Stubb’s giant amphitheater overhead, thematically tying into its first track, “The Eyes of Ibad.” The psychedelic-laden song, with its humming, distorted synthesizers, floated into Davies' cinematic, emotive vocals: “The girl in the sky / her blue-in-blue eyes / she’s holding up the world / with her hands in her pockets, constructing the prophets.” Soft drumbeats and jangly tambourines from Schofield dissolved into the track’s finish. 

The distorted, gritty track, “Stabilisers For Big Boys,” energized the crowd, who perked up and pulled phones out of pockets for the recognizable cut. The track’s synths and overdriven guitars retained the band’s rotted distortion, even as the live version showcased the intended polished textures. 

The haunting, organ-driven “NeilSSong,” resonated throughout the venue before introducing new guitarist Rob Harris’ deep riff-work. Eventually, the track deviated from its studio version’s softer ending, rolling into a feedback-driven, lingering close-out. 

The band paused midway through its set to address the audience. Wright, laughing to himself, said, “Some of the modern phones have those little torch things,” referring to the flash settings, “if you were to desire to use those little torch things throughout this song you could, because it’s a very sad song.”

Wright began the opening piano notes of “Laputa” before looking up and realizing not everyone in the crowd had their phone flashlights on. “Let’s just wait for a few more. Let’s get a few more there. That’s lovely,” he said. Restarting the track, Wright smiled widely at the audience as Schofield added subdued hi-hats and Davies started singing the emotional ballad. 

The crowd, familiar with the lyrics, quietly sang along once Davies reached the second line in the verse: “She came falling to screaming skies / The answer's no, it's just too high.” Phones waved in the air, with a camera broadcasting the audience onto the backing screen, illuminating the band in the image’s glow. Bright, white lights shimmered down, seraphically bathing the audience in a soft ivory radiance. Finishing the song, the band members exchanged smiles, despite the melancholic drip of its lyrics. 

The famous cut “All They Wanted” from Ferric Oxide (Demos 1997-2001), led to an eruption of cheers from the audience. During the chorus, voices lit up the venue with cheers, screams, hollers, and hoots. Many sang every word, echoing Davies’ piercing vocals with enlivening delight, even as the ‘90s frontman slowed the song to its finish. 

The group paused for a moment, with Davies' British refrain floating into the microphone. “Thank you so much for coming out. Thank you for supporting the music,” he muttered while thanking openers Allison’s Halo and Wisp for playing alongside Panchiko. “Thank you,” he added, transitioning to the next song. 

“D>E>A>T>H M>E>T>A>L,” the band’s most popular track, featured new analog motifs and additional emotional refrains just for Levitation. While unknowing listeners may have expected the track to bellow through the Stubb’s with a roar, the live version glistened and glimmered with a softer, more introspective sound, contrasting its upper-cased, genre-focused title. The analog startup sound of a Sega sound system introduced the track, and other quick elements of noise collage wafted into the crowd as it played out. 

For the final song, “Kicking Cars,” Shinji Ikari, a character from the popular anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” appeared on the amphitheater’s overhead screen. Davies' intense vocals dominated the soundscape as he bellowed, “Yeah!” Guitars screeched, drums pounded, and synths soared in a flurry of noise to close out the track, perfectly finishing the 64 minute set with crystalline focus. Harris gave a small thumbs-up before fading into the background, leaving the stage at 10:25 p.m. 

Panchiko, with support from Allison’s Halo and Wisp, delivered a hazy concert full of powerful harmonies, fuzzy guitars, and nostalgic analog modes. All three bands remained in their element throughout their runtime, each reflecting a different rock culture while blending seamlessly together. Allison’s Halo, representing peak ‘90s shoegaze, returned to its classic roots. Wisp, with its pounding Nu gaze influences and hazy guitars, showed the value of the genre’s revitalization. Finally, Panchiko, with its captivating backstory and nostalgia-driven music, reflected both past media culture and modern-day internet sensationalism, delivering a strong, reverberating noise that resonated throughout Stubb’s long after the show.