Tennis08.30.25
Vancouver, BC
Tennis are an indie pop duo from Denver, comprised of husband and wife Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley. They released their latest album, Face Down in the Garden earlier this year, and subsequently announced it would be their last album before taking an indefinite hiatus. The tour had already been announced for a while, so I jumped on a ticket upon announcement of the cancellation, for a show at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park at the tail end of the tour. Right after the Malkin Bowl finishes up with Theatre Under the Stars, when it becomes a concert space for the final days of summer.
Alice Phoebe Lou was initially supposed to open the show, but dropped out a while ago. I knew about that, but didn't realize that Real Estate had stepped in as opener, which is a pretty solid replacement. I do think they had trouble filling the venue, as I noticed BOGO tickets being offered in the week leading up to the show — I feel that they could have advertised Real Estate's involvement more to drum up interest, but it did end up being a sizable crowd.
Malkin Bowl has an early curfew, at 10pm, so doors were open by 6pm. I knew Tennis has a poster offering at this tour, one that passes my concert poster rules — meaning it has to be dated and location specific. Plus it was signed. Though I did not realize the merch stand would be cash only. I only had $30 cash on me, and the poster was $35, but they were happy to take just my $30. I did feel a bit bad, but the merch guy was super nice about it. Alaina said later in the show that it was actually her brother running the merch stand, so big shoutout to him for being so generous.
After Real Estate finished up, Tennis took to the stage for a tight set running about seventy minutes. Kicking off with "I'll Haunt You", then running through selections from their discography, favourites of mine being "Ladies Don't Play Guitar", "Runner", and "Need Your Love". They acknowledged it being their last show for a while, but honestly the tone of the show didn't feel bittersweet, and was actually quite celebratory.
They played my favourite song from the new album, "12 Blown Tires" — a song with a sound that's about as sinister as Tennis gets — during the encore. They closed out with "Late Night", as the band backed away and let Alaina and Patrick take it home. That's about when it started to feel more real, and I am sure some tears were shed in the crowd. Anyways, this was certainly a poetic sendoff for the band,
