At exactly 6:00pm when doors opened, tons of fans flocked towards The Prophet Bar and geared up for a long night of awesome music. This show was generously stacked with a five band ticket, each band getting a decent set time allotment. There was a little something on stage for everyone last night.
Kicking off the night was the North Texas local pop punk act, Brave Days. These guys brought the heat and rocked their way through their set. The lead vocalist Eric Knighton, hardly even stepping on stage, would rather be in the crowd throwing down with his unconstrained energy. I was particularly fond of his padawan braid and lightsaber microphone casing; it was just a tiny detail that added to the quirkiness of this band. These guys were absolutely stoked to be there and play their music for a very eager crowd.
As the anticipation from the crowd grew stronger, the pop rock band, Small Talks took the stage. Hailing from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the emotion-filled musical project of lead vocalist Cayley Spivey brought a unique aspect to this lineup; not only with their sound, but also with their energy and crowd engagement. Spivey, bringing representation to females and LGBTQ+ in this music space where it is far and few in between, clearly doesn’t let adversity get her down. Small Talks had an energizing set full of guitar shredding, flying kicks, crowd surfing, and audience participation. Playing five songs off of their recently released first full length album, A Conversation Between Us, they opened with “Quiet Sounds” and brought the house down with “Thinking of the Sun.” Even though the majority of people weren’t specifically there to see Small Talks, they weren’t shy about getting in the crowd, jumping around, and learning the words as they went along. It was great to see one of my favorite up-and-coming bands play the music that makes them happy and gain new fans as they do it.
Next to the stage was the New Jersey based rock band, Save Face. Their face-melting set dialed up the energy in the room as even more people packed into the tiny venue and made their way to the stage to hear their opening song “Weak.” Mid-set they played fan favorite “Preoccupied” and the mosh pit opened up, stage divers lined up and fans screamed along. The energy of these guys was nothing short of exciting, you could tell how much they love to take the stage night after night and hear people screaming their lyrics back at them.
Fans packed in even tighter than before as more people piled into the venue to see the Knuckle Puck bassist Ryan Rumchaks’ side project, Homesafe. Vocalist and guitarist Rumchaks is joined by bassist Tyler Albertson, guitarist Joe Colesby, and drummer Emanuel Duran to form this Illinois rock band. They took the stage and the crowd roared. They kicked things off with their track “Run” and shredded through the set leading up to the final two songs, “Suits and Ties” and “Vanilla-Scented Laser Beams,” off of their most recent album, One. The crowd showed up to mosh and crowd surf this entire set, leading to several bloodied faces by the end of it.
Nearing 9:30pm, the band everyone was waiting for, New Jersey’s own Can’t Swim stormed the stage. Lead vocalist Chris LoPorto, guitarist Mike Sanchez, guitarist Danny Rico, and bassist Greg McDevitt came together to form this lyrically-introspective, yet aggressive rock band. Thankfully this band brought their own lights which completely changed the atmosphere of the venue. The mainly red and back-lit mood lighting reflected the theme of their songs and the “evil” nature of their most recent album This Too Won’t Pass. The band’s philosophy and lyrics resonate with so many people because we all feel angry, heartbroken, and hopeless at times and all those people that it resonates with were at the gig blowing off steam as they moshed even harder than before. Their set came to a close with a two song encore including “$50,000,000” and “Winter of Cicada,” after a plea from the crowd for more songs.
– Lauren Frederick
– click to enlarge photos –
