At the Commodore on Thursday, May 28

If there was one overriding message to be taken away from AWOLNATION on Thursday night, it’s that nothing prepares a guy for success like years of failure.

That might sound a little harsh, but it’s meant as a huge compliment. AWOLNATION is hardly Aaron Bruno’s first kick at rock ’n’ roll immortality, the singer, songwriter, and unflaggingly energetic frontman having done time in numerous go-nowhere alt-rock projects over the years. 

There was an upside of his struggles with also-rans like Insurgence, Hometown Hero, and Under the Influence of Giants: the 36-year-old Los Angeles native was a veteran performer by the time he finally scored a huge smash a couple of years ago with “Sail”. That showed over the course of a sold-out, hour-long Commodore set. One song into a show that rarely flagged, the singer had the entire crowd screaming out the lyrics to “Hollow Moon” off his challenging new album, Run. 

By song four, all hands in the house—those of the bartenders and bouncers excluded—were in the air, waving back and forth for “Jump”, which inspired the masses to, well, use your imagination. 

All this understandably pleased Bruno immensely. When he laughingly commented “Vaannncoouver’s heeere to partyyyyyy” right before igniting the room with a toughened-up version of the soft-waver “Not Your Fault”, it was like watching someone point out the obvious. 

Bruno—a one-man show in the studio who fronts a four-piece band live—gave every indication he’s thrilled to have made it. The first thing he did after striding out to wild screaming was head to the front of the stage, take a deep courtly bow, and then shake and slap hands with the fans in the front row.

At times it felt like AWOLNATION was an arena act that, to the disappointment of no one, had decided to underplay the market. The Commodore stage was cluttered with banks of trucked-in lights, which were immediately fired up. During the opening number, “Run”, Bruno was shrouded in what looked like a marmalade-orange fog one minute, and then bathed in cold mortuary blue the next. 

A punishingly tight backing band helped torpedo the idea that AWOLNATION is a one-man show, at least outside of the studio. Keyboardist Kenny Carkeet arguably played the biggest part in recreating the songs live, even if what he was doing didn’t look particularly taxing. Stabbing at pads and keys with two fingers, he was a one-man symphony on “Kooks Everywhere” and “I Am”. The rest of the backing crew turned numbers like “Dreamers” into something that sounded like Killdozer covering Slayer. 

But ultimately, AWOLNATION was Bruno’s show, and it delivered a lot more greatness than the faithfully recreated “Sail” at night’s end. Give the man credit for not only keeping the crowd engaged, but having fun doing it. In the middle of “Windows” he yelled “Everyone down on the dance floor—the cops are coming,” and then stood there beaming while the faithful followed orders.

The fuzz was, of course, nowhere to be seen, but hey, the fact that everyone did his bidding spoke plenty about Bruno’s newfound powers. Next stop: Rogers Arena, mostly because based on his hot-and-sweaty Commodore triumph, AWOLNATION’s formerly struggling frontman has earned everything he’s worked for.