It was a crazy night this past Friday evening at the Underground as alternative rockers Circa Survive made a stop in the Queen City for a sold out show. The band released their sixth studio album “The Amulet” in October of 2017 via Hopeless Records and has been touring relentlessly ever since, last fall on a co-headlining run with Thrice and this fall on their own headline run.
The crowd was pumped and ready to go as the band kicked off their set with “Lustration,” one of the firsts of five songs they would play from “The Amulet” album. The stage was extremely dark and each band member was lit by a single Edison style light bulb on a stand for an intimate beginning. From the very start of the show, lead vocalist Anthony Green was on fire. He was all over the stage, running, spinning, jumping, and interacting with the crowd. At times he would put his foot on the barricade and high five crowd surfers as they made their way toward the pit. Green did all this without missing a note as his vocals were spot on all evening long. Guitarists Colin Frangicetto and Brendan Eckstrom delivered mind melting riffs and leads while bassist Nick Beard and drummer Steve Clifford drove the pace. The lighting cranked up big time flashing from total darkness to blown out strobes as a screen lit up varying images throughout the set. It was during the third song of the night “Strange Terrain” that events began taking, well, a turn toward the strange. At some point during the song, an older man made his way onto the stage from the back of the venue much to the surprise of not only Green, but pretty much everyone who saw what happened. Security and staff was quick to deal with the situation and the gentleman was escorted out of the venue. This wasn’t the only incident of the evening as a fan pressed up near the barricade seemingly to take a quick photo with his phone but decided instead to run into the pit, climb up on the barricade, and dive into the crowd. The crowd responded in kind and surfed him back toward the stage. He was of course also escorted out. What the heck were these guys thinking? Despite the antics of a few overzealous fans, the show would go on in fine fashion as Circa Survive made it a night to remember. They even took the time to do an acoustic number before cranking things back up. Green took the time to thank the audience for coming out and supporting the band through the years. He also dedicated “Battle, My Love,” to a fan that had the song tattooed on the back of his head. That’s pretty hardcore and it was cool of Green to point it out. Along with newer songs from “The Amulet,” the set list was heavy with songs from Circa’s 2005 debut album “Juturna” including one of my favorites “Stop the Fuckin’ Car.” After closing out their set with the title track from “The Amulet, ” Green and company gave the crowd two more songs to cap off the crazy night.
Although this leg of the tour has come to an end, the band is on tap for more dates to come including a huge festival appearance at next spring’s Welcome To Rockville festival. Until then, keep on cranking up “The Amulet.”
Set List:
Lustration
The Difference Between Medicine and Poison Is In the Dose
Stange Terrain
Child of the Desert
Tunnel Vision
Birth of the Economic Hitman
In the Morning and Amazing
At Night It Gets Worse…
Flesh and Bone
In Fear and Faith
Stop the Fuckin’ Car
We’re All Thieves
Act Appalled
Battle, My Love
The Amulet
Encore:
Get out
Meet Me In Montauk
We would like to thank James Goodson from Let’s Go Publicity for the credentials to review the show.
