Many bands play their final shows and then come back to life, I can think of a few Rock bands in previous years that have called it quits and then played to big numbers in their final shows only to pop up again afterย a brief hiatus to carry on as normal. Anberlin called it quits in 2014 playing their final show on November 26, 2014, at theย House of Blues in Orlando. By May 2019 they were back in Australia, and by 2020 they were recording new music.ย This year’s tour is billed as Stephen’s last. I guess we’ll see. One thing is for sure: there’s not a soul in the house tonight who isn’t glad they changed their minds.
Opening their tour in Perth’s wonderful Astor Theatre before heading east and ably backed by ‘Hawthorne Heights’ and ‘The Word Alive’ tonight is memorable for all the right reasons. Anberlin of course has always had a great affinity with Australia touring 12 times and even writing songs about us and there’s a huge amount of love in the room as they take the stage.
We sadly miss the opener but the emo legends Hawthorne Heights do a wonderful job of warming up the largely 30-something crowd culminating in set closer ‘Ohio is for lovers’ which lights up the house. It’s a set where JT Woodruff spends rather a lot of time talking between songs, and whilst some love the positive affirmations and the bond he’s sharing with us, others would prefer a couple more songs. Whatever your take on the between song banter they fit so well on this bill and clearly love Australia almost as much as the headliners!
Dressed all in white Anberlin look the business and take only seconds to have the crowd jumping with them! Opening with ‘The Resistance’ and ‘Paperthin Hymn’ is just damn explosive! They are a band of such energy it’s impossible not to be swept up in the flood of alt-rock / emo classics. It seems like the entire room is singing along, savouring every word.
It’s a set made up of all the classics along with cuts from the latest EP ‘Convinced’ which highlights Stephen’s unique voice. It is in truth a bittersweet night – part celebration and part good bye with Stephen previously announcing his hiatus from touring “๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ.”
Even new songs like ‘Two Graves’ from 2022’s Silverline EP sound stunning and sit well up against classics like ‘Impossible’ and ‘Day Late’. It’s mid-set ‘Adelaide’ (witch out S.A. they’re coming your way!) though that gets one of the biggest roars of the night.
The sustained energy of the band, always a trademark, is a wonder to behold and closing with aย trifecta of ‘Never Take a Friendship Personal’, ‘Godspeed’ and ‘Feel Good Drag’ proves why these guys are still one of the brightest lights of the emo genre. With Stephen stepping down from touring the band will carry on with Memphis Fire’s Matty Mullins taking over vocal duties indeed they have already played some shows in the U.S. with Matty taking some of the leads.
Tonight is a simply wonderful start to the Australian tour. There’s a real treat in store for the rest of Australia starting in ‘Adelaide’ on 23rd. And encore of ‘(*Fin)’ is both expected and fitting.
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With thanks to Beehive PR for the media access
GALLERY
