The Band Feel On a Winter Night at HMAC
Words and Photos by Mike Sprouse / Odd Rocker Photography
There’s a particular kind of cold that settles on Herr Street in December. It’s not the dramatic, cinematic stuff, but the kind that sneaks under your jacket and hangs around. Walking into HMAC on Saturday night, The Band Feel took that space and made it feel warmer, like someone cracked open a stove in the corner and fed it a slow-burning stack of kindling. The room buzzed with that familiar low hum, a few too-loud laughs and a quiet anticipation that rolled through the crowd like a slow tide.
Formed in St. Louis, The Band Feel are Garrett Barcus, vocals, Tyler Armstrong on guitar with Kadin Rea on bass, and TJ Stewart on drums.
Stopping in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in support of their Into The Sun EP on Dec. 5, the boys started with “Icarus,” and it felt heavier than the recorded version, not louder, just weightier. It crept in, steady and unhurried, the kind of opener that doesn’t try to impress you; it just fills the room and waits for you to meet it where it stands.
Up next was “Find a Love” and there’s something almost bruised about the way they play it live, hopeful, but with a little scar tissue underneath.
Watch the official music video for “Find a Love” by The Band Feel on YouTube:
“Shuffle” brought that quiet looseness back, the kind that sneaks in before your brain notices, all of it wrapped inside a groove that knows exactly how much to give and how much to hold back. “Hands in My Pocket” shifted the mood, and honestly, that’s one of the band’s strengths because they don’t jump between emotions; they slide. The tune has that lived-in ache, the kind you feel rather than “listen to.” Something about the phrasing, something about the pacing. No theatrics, just truth with a beat behind it.
And “Brother” that one sat heavy over the room. No theatrics, no big gestures. Just the kind of honest sorrow that turns a crowd quiet without anyone calling for it.
With “Shoal Creek” and “Fly Birdy Fly,” the band found that delicate line between grounded and untethered. One rooted deep in the soil, the other hovering somewhere above, like it was trying to decide if it wanted to float or fall. There was something raw in the delivery, not messy, just real.
Watch the official music vidoe for “Shoal Creek” by The Band Feel on YouTube:
I’ve always loved how “Poem 59” feels like a half-remembered dream, slightly familiar, but just out of reach. The band leaned into that mood, playing it with a relaxed looseness that somehow made it stronger. You could see faces soften across the crowd and people even stopped messing with their phones.
“Call It What You Will” snapped things into focus with a steady, pulsing push that carried some grit along with it. Not aggressive, just determined, like a boot scuffing gravel. Then “What of Now” dug in deeper, that slow simmer kind of song that builds tension by not giving you the payoff right away.
“Goodbye Virginia” is a traveler’s song, but not the postcard kind but more like the lonely 2am kind that mirrors the feeling you get driving on empty roads while the music on the radio hums low.
Watch the official music video “Goodbye Virginia” by The Band Feel on YouTube:
Then “In the Garden” closed the night with a softness that didn’t feel fragile but more like the kind of peace you arrive at after wrestling with something heavy. The crowd didn’t rush out afterward. They stood there, letting the quiet sit a little longer, like walking back into the cold too soon might break the spell.
A show like this leaves a warmth you carry with you in that strange space between memory and mood and The Band Feel played like they meant every word and on a winter night in Harrisburg, that’s more than enough to stick with you long after the doors close behind you.
Setlist
1. Icarus
2. Find a Love
3. Shuffle
4. Hands in My Pocket
5. Brother
6. Shoal Creek
7. Fly Birdy Fly
8. Poem 59
9. Call It What You Will
10. What of Now
11. Goodbye Virginia
12. In the Garden
Here are some photos of The Band Feel performing live at Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center on Dec. 5, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography.
