If I Jump, You Jump
Written by BSR Web Staff on November 13, 2021
All Photos by Jenn Noga
The energy of a Smallpools show can only be described as lightning in a bottle. Something truly electric and something you’ll want to hold onto forever.
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morgxn during the Life in the Simulation Cleveland tour stop by Jenn Noga
Now, to be perfectly honest, I had only ever heard two Smallpools songs (Million Bucks and People Watching in case you were wondering), and one from their opener morgxn, so I went in not knowing what to expect. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised at the show I got to witness.
Starting off the night was just morgxn, a piano and the crowd as they dazzled us with songs from their new EP, MERIDIAN vol 2, and a very epic outfit. As morgxn said during the show, songs sound a lot different when you take away all the production, which is true because I listened to the EP on the way home from the show and a stripped live set and the full production are both equally as good. They’re an incredibly powerful vocalist and lyricist and I expect that we’ll be seeing a whole different type of performance from them if they ever tour again with a full band.
Smallpools by contrast had the full production, complete with lights and an inflatable whale.
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Smallpools during the Life in a Simulation Cleveland Tour stop by Jenn Noga
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Smallpools during the Life in a Simulation Cleveland Tour stop by Jenn Noga
Now I can’t tell you that I knew what the set list entailed, I wasn’t able to take a picture of it because some girl thought I was trying to steal it from her but that’s beside the point. Despite not being a Smallpools superfan, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing these songs for the first time, live and with a bunch of strangers. I met two girls who drove up 2 hours from Columbus to see Smallpools and they seemed to be having the time of their lives. As did the rest of the crowd and Smallpools themselves.
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Concert goers during Life in a Simulation Cleveland tour stop by Jenn Noga
The floor was shaking from the amount of bodies jumping up and down and for just a brief moment it felt as if nothing had changed in the world, and it was just all of us and the music for this collective experience, something I hadn’t felt in almost two years. And you better believe that when People Watching and Million Bucks were played I was screaming those lyrics at the top of my lungs.
You can tell that Smallpools cares that everyone is safe and having a good time, almost stopping the show completely for a fan who looked a little dizzy.
Overall, I will now be becoming a Smallpools superfan, so that the next time they come to Cleveland, I’ll be able to know all the songs they play.
![](https://blacksquirrelradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/IMG_7661-1024x683.jpg)
morgxn during the Life in the Simulation Cleveland tour stop by Jenn Noga
Smallpools is currently on their tour Life in a Simulation. You can get tickets and find the rest of the tour dates on their website.