Dance Gavin Dance

After releasing their ninth full-length studio album during a worldwide pandemic, Dance Gavin Dance finally had the opportunity to celebrate their newest release Afterburner. The band hit the road this fall bringing along their friends Polyphia, Veil of Maya, Eidola, and Wolf & Bear setting the stage and warming up the audience each night. On their visit to Oklahoma City’s venue, The Criterion, the curated cast of guitar-driven bands kept the energy alive from start to finish. The opening acts all paved the way for Dance Gavin Dance’s combination of catchy pop-inspired hooks and progressive metalcore to declare the band’s return to live music.

Veil of Maya delivered a gripping performance and debuted their new song, Outrun. Once they were finished Polyphia’s road crew wheeled out massive Orange amplifier speakers, each adorned with beautiful sprawling art mixing renaissance-inspired characters with Polyphia’s established aesthetic from artwork on their hit album, New Levels New Devils (2018). Hip hop tracks played over the PA system, warming up the crowd to groove along with Clay Aeschiliman’s intricate and famously dance-y drumbeats. As the band came onstage, Scott LePage [Guitar] was met with an erupting crowd as he took the microphone to demand there be crowd surfing during Polyphia’s first song. The crowd obliged as a joyful Clay Gober‘s low-end bass guitar tone carried the energy from the growing circle pit to the back of the room and Tim Henson’s quiet confidence while performing masterful guitar parts left everyone in awe. Without vocals, the instrumentation of Polyphia did a perfect job reminding a post-pandemic audience how good music feels.

Once the stage was clear, the banner that had been peeking at the crowd the entire night stood to its full height revealing a penetrating set of yellow eyes from a towering robotic bull looking down on the audience. With the familiar artwork from Dance Gavin Dance’s album Afterburner raised above the stage, an already roaring crowd was reminded the show wasn’t over yet. Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins haunted the stage as the band opened their show with a performance of new song Prisoner, bringing an already rowdy crowd to their peak. Dance Gavin Dance songs are obviously written for the stage, and the band expressed gratitude for the warm welcome after a forced hiatus, with clean vocalist, Tilian Pearson, saying: “We used to play a 200-cap. bar over and over and over again, so this is pretty awesome to see.” Jon Mess, Pearson’s growling counterpart, shook the walls when the crowd joined him to deliver the aggressive hook in recent single Strawberry’s Wake. Newcomer to the Dance Gavin Dance lineup, but familiar to fans of his band Eidola, guitarist and vocalist Andrew Wells fits right into his new home providing beautiful harmonies, bringing even more vocal talent to the stage. Will Swan [Lead Guitar], Matt Mingus [Drums], and Tim Freerick [Bass] blended their complex parts together and merged with the band to create one beautifully organized sound culminating in a theatrical encore featuring fan favorite track Inspire the Liars accompanied by a lighting design finale to send a satisfied audience on their way home.

By: Alec Beeson