// Photo by Makenna Walko

Wild Rivers’ new album is named Never Better — and their performance at Paradise Rock Club on September 7 proved that the band certainly lives up to the album title. 

Best known for their single “Thinking ‘Bout Love,” the trio — vocalist Devan Glover, vocalist and guitarist Khalid Yassein, and guitarist Andrew Oliver — has had a whirlwind year. They spent part of 2023 opening for The Chicks, and are touring nationally this fall to promote Never Better and its upcoming companion album, Better Now. 

But this time on the road has done little to wear the band down. When they took to the stage at Paradise Rock, they brought with them an infectious energy that electrified the venue and brought the penetrating, personal quality of their discography to life. 

The night opened with a performance from Jade Bird, whose warm, whole-hearted laugh charmed the audience from the moment she stepped onto the stage. The British singer-songwriter’s distinctive voice — with a slight rasp and soaring range – combined with her lyrical brilliance to make her set nothing short of enchanting. From the deeply vulnerable “Ruins” to the fiery ear-worm “Uh-Huh,” Bird’s spectrum of songs swept the audience up in a rollercoaster of emotion and showcased her musical dexterity.

Although Bird was a difficult act to follow, Wild Rivers capitalized on the audience’s energy and launched into their set with the new album’s title track, “Never Better.” The two hours that followed sprinkled a handful of the band’s early hits, including fan favorites “Speak Too Soon” and “Wandering Child,” among their more recent releases. 

From start to finish, they leveraged the intimacy of the venue to establish a connection with listeners and made a point of uplifting the audience experience, even weaving them into the show itself. For example, during “I Love You Anyways,” Glover walked among the crowd with a microphone, asking members of the audience, “What do you love?” The answers, which ranged from the light-hearted to the emotional, evoked a new poignancy in the song and injected it with personal meaning for the gathered fans. At one point during the show, the band also gave audience members the opportunity to vote on which of two songs they wanted to hear. These moments, although small, made the show feel like a dialogue between artists and audience — a moment of communion where the two came together to create and celebrate music. This element of crowd participation also means that every Wild Rivers performance is utterly unique, stamped with the distinct persona of each city the band visits. 

On stage, Glover and Yassein had infectious musical chemistry, and the band’s light-hearted banter and captivating storytelling between songs is a testament to the deep friendships that underlie their artistry. Especially during the acoustic set, their stripped-back, intimate approach to performance captured the feeling of sitting around a campfire with a group of friends, telling stories and making music together.

This focus on storytelling was an undercurrent throughout the show, reflected not only in the musical aspects of performance but also in the visual components. The lighting in particular helped cultivate the show’s atmosphere — simple and unobtrusive during the acoustic set, often warm-hued during love songs, and most dramatic during climatic moments like the band’s final song, “Thinkin’ Bout Love.”

All in all, Wild Rivers’ performance was a dazzling, heart-filled showcase of both their artistic mastery and the connections — with each other, and with the audience — at the core of their music. Leaning into their folk roots, the band’s deeply personal lyricism and magnetic stage presence swept the crowd at Paradise Rock up in their sound and left the audience more excited than ever for the band’s upcoming album. 

// Makenna Walko '27 is a DJ and staff writer for The Blues Hangover.