"I Think I Toured Here Before" Tour: Arrows In Action, Good Boy Daisy, Instant Crush
It was a very special night in Portland as Arrows In Action Brought their "I Think I've Toured Here Before" show to Hawthorne Theatre on October 2nd, 2026. The 5+ week cross country tour highlights their 2025 album "I Think I've Been Here Before." They have been touring quite often for the past couple of years building up their fanbase while opening for bands like The Home Team, Marianas Trench, and Boys Like Girls. This is their first headlining tour since 2024 and all that hard work paid off with a ton of shows selling out, including Portland!
I drove about 3 hours from the Seattle area for this show and jammed the setlist the entire drive. After grabbing some food and finding a parking spot, I began my walk to the venue. I have only been to Hawthorne once before and it was actually for my very first Arrows In Action show in 2024. It is a pretty nice venue, I love the stage design and the way they have things organized. All venue staff and security that I talked to were very kind and helpful. With it being a sold out show, it was extremely crowded but I still was able to move around a bit and there is a nice little hallway making it easy to get to and from the photo pit.
Starting the show off was Instant Crush, a Seattle band formed in 2020/2021. I've been following them for years so it's really cool to see them on tour with one of my favorite bands. The crowd buzzed in anticipation as they took note of the bedazzled microphone and instruments on stage. Instant Crush opened their set with "GRUDGE" which is off the 2026 deluxe edition of their first album "I'M SORRY I DIDN'T BITE MY TONGUE" which originally released in 2024. Almost every song they played was off that album except for their 2021 single "will i always feel this way?" Their set was so much fun with songs truly made for dancing like "A CINEMATIC EXIT" and "ALL YOUR FRIENDS." This was my 3rd or 4th time seeing them and I noticed a huge jump in confidence and improved stage presence. The band interacts with each a lot on stage and it is frankly adorable. They are always smiling, you can tell that they love what they do and are having a blast playing music with their friends. The set concluded with some of my favorites, "APOLOGY TOUR" and "STAB MY BACK." They were so much fun and after the show I overheard someone walking by describe them perfectly by saying "that first band knew how to party!" This is only the beginning for Instant Crush, I believe they have big things coming in their future.
Next up was Good Boy Daisy, an alt-pop band formed in 2015 by a pair of twin sisters. They are a new band to me and I went into their set mostly blind, but ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Opening with "Grey," they went on to play 8 total original songs including "Chai Tea Baby" and "Shag Chateau." Personally, I left the show with 2 specific songs stuck in my head which were "Terrify" and "Selfish." Those songs have been on constant rotation since the show. Before they played "Selfish," they asked the crowd if anyone had been through a breakup recently, and dedicated the song to someone's ex. They also did a cover of "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry which was so fun and had the crowd screaming and dancing along. Their set ended with "Someone Like You" and the extremely catchy "Summer Love." Good Boy Daisy definitely gained a new fan out of me and several of my friends!
Lastly we got to see the super fun and high energy Arrows In Action! I have been following the band closely for a couple years now so it has been very cool to see them selling out shows and hearing how excited fans are to see them. The crowd screamed as the stage flashed with bright white lights and the band began with a medley of "Celebration" and "Déjà Vu" off their 2025 album. They went on to play 7 songs off that album as well as 3 more off the deluxe edition that came out in April 2026. The crowd seemed to know every word, singing and dancing along to songs such as "Hello Sunlight" and my personal favorite, "Empty Canvas." They also still played quite a few songs off earlier albums like "Endeavor" and "High." Vocalist Victor Viramontes-Pattison sounded amazing, possibly the best I've ever heard him in the 2 years I've been attending their shows. Drummer Jesse Frimmel suffered a hand injury just 2 weeks before this tour started, so was unable to play drums but still joined the band on stage to provide backing vocals and entertainment. With him unable to play drums, they invited in Ronnie Strauss who they met while he was drumming on tour with IDKHOW. Ronnie had less than 2 weeks to learn their entire set and did a great job! Something else very fun that they are doing with this tour is playing a surprise song every night. In Portland they said "obviously we can't play every song, so we had to make some compromises..." As soon as that last word left guitarist Matt Fowler's mouth, the fans roared in excitement knowing that they were about to play "Compromise" off their very first album. The song is a crowd favorite that they haven't played in awhile so I felt very lucky to hear it. After that they played "Stop Talking" and "Put You Through Me" before saying a quick thank you and left the stage. However, the lights didn't turn on so we knew there was going to be an encore. I will admit that I am not usually a fan of this kind of fake out encore as I feel it's been very overused. But I actually liked how they did it because once they left the stage, audio of them talking started playing. Saying things like "should we go back out there?" and "I don't know if there's anyone still out there, I think they left." They quickly came running back on stage to perform the final 2 songs of the night, "Uncomfortably Numb" and "Cheekbones" before saying a true goodnight and exiting the stage for real.
This tour is one you don't want to miss! Arrows puts on such an incredibly fun show, and they curated a great lineup for this tour. The fans are incredibly nice and the vibe at their shows is very welcoming. If you stay after the show, you could even meet both the opening bands at merch. There is just a handful of dates left so definitely check it out if you are in Arizona, Texas, or Tennessee!
Photos & Review By: Hailey Hazen
Comments