A Love Letter to the '22 Concert Season
It has been many years since I've gone to as many concerts as I have in this past year, and my personal prime time for this is the summer. I've really reinvigorated my love for live music this year, while supporting some of my favorite artists.
Happiest of new year's to one and all, here is my recap of the 2022 concert season!
Misterwives:
I was invited to see this band with my partner's sister after playing them over the loud speaker on a float trip last summer. When Superbloom came on, she immediately looked at me with the widest eyes in the world and said," Oh my god, you like Misterwives too?!"
Duh, of course I do, which lead to a year of scouring for tour dates. They did not grace my city with their presence, but they came close enough to her's for us to go. She lives in Louisville, and the band was set to play in Cincinnati.
Close enough, we thought. Let's fucking go!
It was a bit of a drive, but so worth the time and distance. All the more time to jam to our favorite tunes and pregame for the show.
I need to take a moment to talk about the venue before discussing the show. It's a venue right on Vine Street called Bogart's. This venue does something that I had not personally seen before, but think that every major venue should implement in some way. The inside of the venue was lined with bricks, and each band/artist that has played there gets a dedicated brick to be painted on the wall. It was super fucking cool to just walk around and see who has graced the stage (and also made for a killer photo op).
Below are just a few of those artists.
Now on to the actual show!
Mandy Lee has such a palpable stage presence. Let it be known, we saw them as the Roe v Wade rumors were coming about and the band had an entire song dedicated to, well, the below picture. The iconic Bans Off Our Bodies in the background while they covered "I'm Just a Girl" by No Doubt. I will always respect this band's respect and advocacy for women's rights and objective morality. The crowd went absolutely nuts in the best way, it was such a cool vibe.
This was a fun one, but I'm disappointed to report that a few individuals in the crowd dampened the spirits. During this segment of the show, someone to the left of the stage was booing them profusely, and the band took notice. They posted about it on their instagram the next day and linked fundraisers to women's rights in his honor, which was a pretty cool thing to take away from the situation.
Even though I was a little sad that they probably have a sour taste in their mouth from Cincinnati, I was so stoked to see this spunky New York band in the flesh. They are pure sunshine, I would love to see them again.
In Her Own Words & Tiny Moving Parts:
This one took me back to my pop punk roots with many a late night in the city chasing angsty melody. This one uniquely felt like home. In Her Own Words is a recent favorite of mine. I fell in love with their song Rosé By The Ocean, and I just couldn't get enough of them. They were the opener for two larger bands at this show; Tiny Moving Parts and This Wild Life. Hardly anyone in the crowd knew their songs, but there were a few that were vibing with them like I was.
Mind you, this is a smaller venue in the city so there isn't a bad standing room spot in the house. I made eye contact with the lead singer many a time. When their set was done, I actually got to meet them by their merch table and got my shirt signed by Joey Fleming and Ian Berg! They were incredibly down-to-earth and kind. It was actually Ian's birthday that day and I gave him a birthday hug and welcomed him to the city of St. Louis. He was so kind and he was moshing in the pit all night long with the rest of us. They're a band of absolute angles from what I can tell, they were so sweet! I haven't had such a nonchalant, genuine interaction with an artist since Warped Tour in 2016.
I'll admit, I wasn't there for This Wild Life. However, their set was so unique. I wish I had taken more photos. They had a giant old-school nintendo 64 with a flatscreen that was catered with animations for their set. They had the band members as game characters, going through tribulations as Pokemon trainers and Mario. They even had an 8-bit soundtrack version of their songs, which previewed after they were done playing it. It was so unbelievably cool and I've never seen anything like it.
When it came time for Tiny Moving Parts, the crowd was energized.
It felt like I was back in 2016 for a moment, the crowd lights were dimmed and the stage was lit purple. Their stage presence was amazing and Dylan Mattheisen is wildly talented, shredding the fast-paced and intricate chords to their songs as well as leading vocals. The man just oozes energy-he has to to keep up with the crowd!
They were incredible, we absolutely felt alive by the end of their set. I adore intimate venues like Red Flag where there isn't a super expensive pit to get into. It's all standing room and people can choose their experience. Wanna mosh? Cool, head to the heart of the crowd. Wanna sing and jump to your heart's content? Make your way to the front my dude.
This type of experience has really captivated my interest in smaller bands, as you can't really have this experience with something more sensationalized. Tiny Moving Parts is one of those bands that lives up to their sound live, through and through.
Dance Gavin Dance:
Speaking of intimate venues, The Pageant in St. Louis is sort of the middleman between bigger symphony/concert hall and small stage venue. It's where I've seen El Monstero, Tech 9, Pierce the Veil, Neck Deep, and so many others throughout my angsty years.
I can now also add Dance Gavin Dance to the list, although I was not aware of their sexual assault allegations and controversy at the time. Since then, they have let the sexual assaulter back in the band and I have stopped supporting them. So have so many others and I'm disappointed to see them make such a tasteless, disrespectful decision in a scene where this happens all too much.
However, going back to the music experience, Dance Gavin Dance fans are a different breed. In a bad way. This crowd was getting to be out of control and, after attempting to mosh, the etiquette just wasn't there. People were using their elbows and knees to hurt one another, people were lying and shoving to get close to the stage, and the band did nothing to stop it. I had someone persistently try to steal my wallet throughout the entire show and it was absolutely awful. I was being groped and shoved aggressively and it was seriously terrible.
DGD does not live up well to performing live. The vocals are drastically different and, often times, muted for the main melodies. The screaming portions are amazing though, and they are musically coherent with their studio recordings. The main vocals just aren't there, which was disappointing on top of an already disappointing night.
However, it was really cool to see a band that played a pivotal part in my teenage years. I still run to their music and am obsessed with their Pop Goes Punk entries.
I've seen people who have belonged to the scene for years and years and years see a similar trend where people just don't watch out for each other like they used to. With the revitalization of the pop punk/angsty scene via TikTok and artists crossing over to the genre (see: Machine Gun Kelly), the scene is no longer a safe haven for the social outcasts. Being misunderstood and brooding, along with the constant craving of teenage nostalgia, has brought a tidal wave of new people into the scene. Which is, in theory, amazing! It's great for the artists and the inclusivity of it all, but it has been breeding this culture of not having great concert etiquette. The ignorant and entitled have set the trends here and I really hope this doesn't have a lasting impression on concerts.
Twenty One Pilots:
This band is infamous for their popularity and their next-level performances. They did not disappoint. We went to see them for their Icy Tour and, with this band, you get an entire vibrant visual experience with their show. It was next-level how they infused their stunts with crowd interaction with all levels of the stadium. They had their own snow and a blue door onstage that took them from their icy world to ours, like they were dropped here to perform.
They rode on a mattress across the stadium to the B stage and had a campfire for the band back on the A stage, which was super amazing. Their vocals and instrumentation was top-tier, these boys were born to perform and immerse themselves completely in their music. They did an excellent job at hyping up the crowd and paying homage to every single one of their albums. The only complaint that I have about their show was that they couldn't perform entire songs, but only because their setlist was ambitious. When one has as many hits as they do, I get it. They only have so much time. The brothers are notorious gamers and managed to slip in a cover of the Halo Theme with a dramatic guitar and trumpet solo, which was amazing!
My favorite part of the show was when Tyler was on the B stage in the middle of the stadium and he instructed different parts of the stadium to shine their flashlights in time with the syllables of Mulberry Street. This was doubly awesome because a team of devoted fans had passed out color filters to every single person in the stadium to match these sections. The colors were pink, yellow, and red to match the color scheme of the Scaled and Icy album. Our section got blue and watching the stadium light up in tandem with Tyler to Mulberry Street was the coolest thing I've ever seen at a concert, especially with the added touch of the devoted fans. It was a blast, a TOP concert is a full-blown experience and I will not be missing any of their tours going forward. I feel like I've missed out not going to the previous ones, but won't be making that mistake again.
Blue October:
e making that mistake a Blue October was a very emotional experience for me. My mom passed away in early November, a day after her birthday. We saw Blue October toward the end of the month and she absolutely loved this band. She got me hooked on the Foiled album when I was still in grade school, so this concert was sentimental to me. My mom struggled with addiction all her life, so did the lead singer of the band: Justin Furstenfeld.
I had been, and still am, wracked with grief at the sudden and unexpected loss of my mom. Hearing some of her favorite songs without her felt very strange, bizarre, and wrong. I cried the entire time and was too emotionally distraught to get myself into the pit of the venue, which I would normally always be in. To make matter more polarizing, Blue October was very good friends with a local alternative radio station host who had passed away. They made many statements about him and even announced that they would be coming back to the city a couple of weeks later for his tribute show with Shinedown, despite still being on tour. In their one day off between shows, he had traveled back to the city to pay homage to his dear friend. I thought that was beautiful and that, in a way, he was paying respects to my mom too. It felt like a very fitting theme for the evening. I cried the entire time, but it was therapeutic to be listening to music she loved while I know she was watching in spirit.
I don't know how credible my review of their performance can be, given that I was sobbing and not in an objective headspace at all, but they were fantastic. Even in a big venue, they made the experience feel so intimate and beautiful. Justin's voice definitely carries well to live performances and I will be seeing them again, for mom, when they return to the city.
So that's my love letter to the '22 concert season, which seemed to mirror the ebbs and flows of my life this year. They saw art imitates life, but I think that phrase is reversible too.
This last year challenged me, broke my heart, and also showed me the most love and success I have ever known. It has been the most polarizing year yet and I already know 2023 isn't going to go easy on me either.
And to that, I say, I'm fucking ready for it.
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