Written by dj bella, host of itsmytime. Wednesdays 7pm -8pm

On Friday September 18, I chose to spend my evening accompanied by distorted noise. A choice that any fan of shoe gaze, slowcore, and noise pop would have made in a heart beat. Live at the Wiltern, Whirr, an American shoegaze band from Modesto, California took the stage.

The Wiltern itself is a venue of great architecture and size. A combined 14 story building, 12 of the floors sits on top of the two story theater, decorated by flanked neon signs, a turquoise blur, 

If you wanted to manually kick start your own existentialist minimization, all you would have to do is stand underneath the illuminating sign. An intentional design trick,  the original architect had made a deliberate decision installing narrow windows, which illudes the eye in appearing taller. 

And It makes sense that Whirr would choose such a large place to perform for their headlining show, which sold out an hour before their opener ‘Luster’  had started. I could assert this was a fairly united fanbase whose support for the show came in droves. 

The sheer amount of people, filled up not just the concert hall but also the merchandise line had taken over an entire staircase. This was actually a point of contention for many people, as there was impending disappointment waiting at the merch table,  when someone had actually made it to the front of the line, items desired were already sold out. Simply, a byproduct of supporting fans. 

Whirr’s music is slow, sometimes sad and heavily distorted. The lead vocalist , Loren Rivera sang  rather softly, a huge complement to the more dynamic parts of their music. What added to the experience of the show was that the venue hall was large enough for the quality of the sound to penetrate ears in the way Whirr had intended. If the venue had been smaller or outdoors,  many parts of their set list would have lost that artistic character and reduced it to unidentifiable noise. A large background screen of glitched images, spirals, trance inducing images had made the feeling of entering the world of Whirr even more potent, the screen would change colors from hazy blues and greens to thin fine white lines swirling around. Additionally The venue had a lot of character inside, like the painted ceiling’s which added to the overall dramatic ambience of the evening. 

Whirr at the Wiltern

September 2026 | Photo by dj bella

At the time, I was wishing for the band to recognize their audience and made more of a connection. I have been to previous shows where the stage presence was apart of the experience, engaging and talking at the audience , sometimes pandering to elicit a reaction of excitement from a song that was requested via shout out. Instead the band played on and on, short breaks for water but their only intention was to play. It broke this idea of mine, that bands are there for my entertainment purpose, it redefined what a show could be like or without and still be as enjoyable. It was much more appropriate, the band has a track record for being unapologetically themselves, the silence between songs had established that they were people playing music they had cared about, not specifically for the appraisal of others. 

Although this can be somewhat deterring, perhaps fans could be put off by this behavior; this far into the show,  my experience has been emotionally altered by the underlying importance it held to the fans and the band. Importance that was expressed through the bands choice to play on and the fans commitment to coming out and supporting the band. My suspicions of this sentiment were only confirmed through my small exchanges with other show observers, although brief there was I could deduce deep concern, akin to life and death in the matter of coming to this particular show. a conclusion that could be drawn from the bands choice to live perform. Specifically choosing to perform less often, rather focusing on creating more music, quality that you could have heard on Friday evening.

Whirr had played excellently, the choice of performing at The Wiltern was well thought out taking into account the physical space and atmosphere that really brought the show together. I had enjoyed myself at this show, swaying the night away.