On Tuesday, March 12, Smallpools brought its “So Social” tour to Philadelphia’s Union Transfer, an intimate venue in Center City, Philadelphia. Smallpools is an American indie-pop band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2013. Its first self-titled debut EP was released in the summer of 2013. 

The three-piece recently released its EP “So Social” in December of 2018, including singles “Stumblin’ Home,” “Social,” and “People Watching” — all of which were performed during the second leg of its 2019 “So Social” tour. The Los Angeles group includes New York native Sean Scanlon on vocals, Mike Kamerman from New Jersey on guitar and Beau Kuther from Oregon on drums. In 2015, the band performed their song “Karaoke” off their first full length album “Lovetap!” on Late Night with Seth Meyers in March of 2015.

Accompanying the band on the 2019 tour are the Los Angeles based quintet New Dialogue and Philadelphia natives Bel Heir. New Dialogue opened the show at 8:30 with its three singles, including the newest single “Are You Like Me.” Bel Heir played next, performing songs off its newest release “Don’t Turn This Record Down.” 

Smallpools started close to 9:30, opening with its single “Stumblin’ Home.” The band played for an hour and a half, performing newer singles, including “Downtown Fool Around,” “People Watching” and “Insincere.”  The band used the intimate nature of the venue to its advantage, taking the opportunity to connect with each fan in attendance. During its song “Killer Whale” off its album ‘Lovetap!,’ the band threw a giant inflatable whale with “Philly” written in gold paint across the whale’s stomach. 

The whale was tossed through the crowd as the song played and the band explained that its name came from seeing reports of the small pools that whales are kept in at Seaworld. Towards the end of the show, Scanlon came into the crowd during “Lovetap!,” encouraging the audience to jump up and down with him as he sang from the middle. The show ended with a performance of the band’s song “Dreaming,” but it was impossible to tell that the show had ended because the audience continued screaming the band’s name until it came back onstage to play the encore, which consisted of its 2016 single “Run With The Bulls” and “Mason Jar.”

Smallpools has an uncanny way of making even the most crowded of rooms feel connected. The time seemed to fly by as the Los Angeles based group members played their hearts out on a cold Tuesday in the middle of Philadelphia.