Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Concert Review: letlive.-- Allston, MA-- July 5th, 2016

Lineup: letlive./Seahaven/Silver Snakes/Night Verses
Venue: Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA
Date: July 5th, 2016

Night Verses: Night Verses is a band that I instantly became a huge fan of after becoming aware of them when they were announced as one of the openers for the second leg of Protest the Hero's Volition tour in early 2014. Unfortunately, they didn't end up appearing at the Massachusetts date of the Volition tour , so I had a solid two years worth of built-up anticipation to see them live heading into this show. Night Verses not only met my lofty expectations for their set, they eviscerated them.

The sheer strength of their musicianship grabbed me right away. Vocalist Douglas Robinson sounded almost exactly the same as he does on record, the guitarwork from Nick DePerro was magnificent  and this performance made me fully appreciate just how much of a beast drummer Aric Improta is behind the kit. Post-hardcore is a genre full of excellent musicians, but there are few bands that match the sheer talent Night Verses possesses throughout their ranks.

The setlist was evenly divided between songs from all three of their releases (2012's Out of the Sky EP, 2013's Lift Your Existence and their upcoming second LP Into the Vanishing Light, which will be released this Friday) and let every side of their wide-spanning sound shine through. The older material was appropriately chaotic and beautiful while the new material sounded a lot more melodic than most of the songs from Lift Your Existence without losing the unpredictable spastic edge that made that record special. Night Verses put on a spectacular performance that perfectly showcased their dynamism and made a strong case as to why they're the most exciting up-and-coming band in the post-hardcore scene right now.   
 
Silver Snakes: Silver Snakes are a band that have picked up a fair amount of traction of late as evidenced by the hype surrounding their new album Saboteur and their securing of the opening spot on Korn and Breaking Benjamin's co-headlining tour this fall. After seeing them live, it's easy to see why they've garnered so much buzz recently. Their hybrid of hard rock and post-hardcore is pretty fun to listen to and their vocalist Alex Estrada has a very unique and impressive voice. Their songs got a little bit repetitive at times and I wish Estrada utilized his excellent screams more, but Silver Snakes still managed to put on a good show.

Seahaven: Seahaven is the epitome of a band that I can understand the acclaim for, but can't personally connect with or appreciate in any way. While there was nothing objectively wrong with their music, their style of melancholy emo with bursts of post-hardcore aggression and pop punk breeziness simply isn't something that resonated with me. My lack of enthusiasm for them made me an extreme outlier in the room as the crowd went completely nuts for their set-greeting the conclusion of every song with warm applause and passionately singing along to just about every song in their 40-minute set. Unless they were opening for band that I absolutely love, I'd never voluntarily sit through another Seahaven set again.

letlive.: Going into this show I was worried about the potential effects letlive.'s more melodic, accessible new album, If I'm the Devil..., would have on their notoriously intense live show.  Thankfully the answer to that question was none. If anything, letlive.'s live show has only gotten more intense since the last time I saw them in 2013.

The centerpiece for letlive.'s chaotic live show is their vocalist Jason Butler. Outside of Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan, there isn't a more batshit insane frontman in music. It's usually a mystery what he'll do during each show, but it always ends up being something completely bonkers and unforgettable. The highlights of Butler's one-man carnival of chaos at this show included him walking and climbing around in the rafters while singing during "That Fever Fever" and "Homeless Jazz", running and stage-diving over the barrier during "Banshee (Ghost Fame)" and "27 Club" and breaking into a freestyle rap when the group experienced technical difficulties after they played "Banshee". Butler is as electrifying of a showman as you'll see in all of music and experiencing his unpredictable antics in person alone is well worth the price of admission to a letlive. show.   

Aside from being a psycho with a flare for doing jaw-dropping stuff during performances, Butler also happens to be an incredible vocalist. Both his clean and harsh vocals were top-notch for the duration of the set and it was honestly kind of mind-blowing to hear how much sharper he was vocally at this show compared to the last time I saw them. His stage presence is understandably the primary attraction of letlive's live shows for a lot of fans, but Butler deserves just as much as praise for his damn near flawless vocal performance.

Backing up Butler's incendiary presence and standout vocal performance was an excellent setlist filled with surprising song selections. Hearing Fake History deep cuts in "Homeless Jazz" and "Enemies (Enemigos)" was surreal and the song selection from their 2013 album The Blackest Beautiful couldn't have possibly been better. Even the material from If I'm the Devil... sounded much more lively and attention-grabbing live than it does on disc. letlive.'s performance last night will undoubtedly go down as one of the most fun, insane and flat-out memorable performances that I see in all of 2016.

Scores:
Night Verses 8.5/10
Silver Snakes 7.5/10
Seahaven 4/10
letlive. 9.5/10

Setlists:
Night Verses:
Rage
Time Erases Time
New Song
A Dialogue in Cataplexy
Be Happy With Yourself, I'm Staying Here in Hell
I've Lost My Way Down

letlive.:
I've Learned to Love Myself
The Dope Beat
Banshee (Ghost Fame)
Enemies (Enemigos)
White America's Beautiful Black Market
Another Offensive Song
Younger
That Fear Fever
Homeless Jazz
Renegade' 86
Reluctantly Dead
27 Club

Encore:
Muther
Good Mourning, America

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