The Fray
Moody Amphitheater
Austin, TX
July 29, 2026
Photos and Review by Roy Vergara
Waterloo Park was still holding onto the afternoon when doors opened at 5:30 pm. The crowd came in slowly, waiting out the heat in whatever shade they could find before settling into their seats or onto the lawn with cold drinks in hand. For a lot of the people filing in, this was music that had been around since high school.
Colony House opened at 6:30 pm and gave the early crowd far more than an opening set usually asks for. The Franklin, Tennessee band bounced across the stage feeding off one another. Midway through, Caleb Chapman told the audience that Austin was the first place Colony House ever played as a band, at Austin City Limits. They finished at 7:00 pm and the amphitheater looked nothing like it had thirty minutes earlier.
Dashboard Confessional came on at 7:20 pm. Chris Carrabba has been writing these songs since 1999, long enough that they belong to the crowd as much as to him. “The Best Deceptions” opened the set and the singing started with it and never really stopped. “Stolen” softened the park for a few minutes before “Vindicated” pulled everyone back onto their feet, and by “Screaming Infidelities” the whole amphitheater was one voice. “Hands Down” closed things out at 8:15 pm with the sun finally gone and the night fully open.
The Fray walked out at 8:50 pm into noise that had been building all evening. They opened with the title track from “A Light That Waits,” the album the Summer of Light Tour is built around and their first in twelve years. It is also the first with Joe King out front. He took the role after Isaac Slade stepped away in 2022. “Over My Head (Cable Car)” arrived a few songs later, and from there King, guitarist Dave Welsh and drummer Ben Wysocki moved easily between old and new.
Deep into the set, a stripped down take on Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” quieted the park almost completely, thousands of people holding still under the summer sky. Three songs later King told the audience the band was going back to the first track of its first album. “She Is” drew a roar of recognition that took a long time to settle back down.
King introduced the band during “Love Don’t Die,” then opened the set back up with “Wherever You Reach for Me.” Not long after, King stepped off the stage and into the crowd, singing as he moved through the floor seats, then kept going and out to the lawn where the people farthest from the stage suddenly found themselves at the center of everything. The sound followed him section by section.
“You Found Me” closed out the main set, and the last stretch took its time. “Sea Level Drive” eased the room back down before “How to Save a Life” lifted it one more time. Then The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” sent everyone off.
On a night that started too hot to move, Moody Amphitheater ended up feeling a lot smaller than it is. Colony House, Dashboard Confessional, and The Fray gave the evening over to songs people have been carrying since high school, and by the end there was not much distance left between the stage and anyone standing in front of it.
Check out the gallery below to relive the night or see what you missed.
Coloney House
Dashboard Confessional
The Fray
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