Last Friday night pop rocker’s Set It Off took to Paradise Rock Club for the sold out Boston stop of their North American Midnight Tour.
Featuring support acts L.I.F.T, Super Whatevr, and With Confidence, the Midnight Tour began mid February in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has quickly made it’s way cross country to our very own east coast.
And, Friday March 8th, they finally hit Boston’s Paradise Rock Club where they put on one heck of a show.
First up for the night was L.I.F.T, Love in Future Times.
A mix of emo rap and pop rock, L.I.F.T is made up of vocalist Austin Arthur, guitarist Reuben Pearl, bassist Holden Prine, and drummer Jamaal Smith.
Reminiscent of a mix of Linkin Park and Sum 41, L.I.F.T brought both new energy and fresh faces to those in attendance- with few concert goers knowing the band prior to their set.
“How many of you have heard of us before?” Arthur asked a near silent crowd.
“How many of you like what we’re doing?”
The follow up question receiving a much louder applause and cheers than the first.
L.I.F.T’s set featured seven of their dance/rap tracks, including “Dead Kid$,” “Devil,” “Vampires,” and the finale- “Cassette Tapes,” which seemed to be a crowd favorite.
“Thank you guys for showing up early and partying with us.”
Following L.I.F.T was Super Whatevr, a four piece pop rock band from Costa Mesa, California.
Fronted by lead singer and guitarist Skyler McKee and featuring his touring crew- bassist Zach Rabago, drummer Chase Vernon, and guitarist Wyatt Kollar- Super Whatevr took the stage to a round of applause and screams of excitement.
“Are you guys ready?” McKee asked. “Let me rephrase that. Are you non gender specific people ready? I gotta get better at being more inclusive.”
Kicking things off with their song “Katherin with a K,” the band started off slowly, before kicking into high gear with high energy songs “Television” and “Why do I Wonder Why.”
But their set took a turn for the somber as the band began to transition into “Someone Somewhere Somehow.”
“This song was written about my cousin who committed suicide a little over five years ago,” McKee shared with the audience. “I know hindsight is 2020 and mental illness is real and therapy is a great tool, but there is so much more that we can do to be kind and help those around us.”
“And to everyone who may feel this way, I’m sorry that you feel that you’re not enough or that people don’t love you but that’s not true. Sorry to be blunt but you’re wrong if you think nobody cares or nobody loves you.”
The band then picked things back up for their final songs, “Bloomfield,” and “Good Luck,” helping to lift the crowd’s spirits just in time for the third act, With Confidence to take the stage.
Opening with their power packed “Keeper” and “Moving Boxes,” With Confidence got fans dancing, and some going a little too hard in the pit.
“We’re all for getting rowdy at a rock show, but just make sure you’re taking care of each other,” frontman Jayden Seelely announced after a few fans had to be removed from the crowd by security during their second song.
Alongside Seeley on stage were bandmates guitarist/vocalist Inigo Del Carmen and drummer Josh Brozzesi.
Touring member Scotty Mac also joined them, filling in on rhythm guitar while Seeley played bass.
Despite their rough and rowdy start, With Confidence helped keep the energy up throughout the remainder of their 14 song set, playing a mix of old and new songs including their latest single, “Without Me.”
Other songs included their b-side “Godzilla,” “Here for Nothing,” and crowd favorite “Icarus.”
And, in honor of international women’s day, Del Carmen made sure to honor all of the women in the room.
“I would like to say thank you to all of the women out there,” he said to the excitement of the crowd. “Hell yeah, go women!”
The band finished up their set with their most popular single, “Voldemort.” Only this time, they featured Set It Off’s merch guy Jim as a vocalist- not only surprising the crowd but getting everyone even more amped up for the headliners to take the stage.
Then, shortly after With Confidence left the stage, Set It Off’s set began- but not before a countdown to “midnight” took place on the projector behind the stage.
“Two minutes until midnight,” a robotic female voice announced to the crowd.
“One minute until midnight.”
It wasn’t until exactly midnight that the music started and Set It Off finally took the stage.
Starting things off in high gear, the band opened with newer single “Lonely Dance,” and “Uncontainable.”
Made up of lead singer Cody Carson, drummer Maxx Danziger, and guitarists Dan Clermont and Zach Dewall, Set It Off is a four piece pop rock band hailing from Florida.
With many years of touring and recording under their belts, Set It Off have experienced quite a lot of growth- changing up their sound from their 2011 angsty punk album “Horrible Kids,” and expanding their range from solely punk inspired tracks to electric and pop sounds that are featured heavily on their new album “Midnight.”
But just because their sound has changed, doesn’t mean that the band is out of touch with their roots, and they made sure to remind fans of that as they performed a medley of older tracks mid set.
“Last tour we played an acoustic medley, so now we want to play a full band medley,” Carson told fans. “We’re going to include songs all the way back to the beginning, off of Cinematics.”
The medley included mainly songs off of their 2014 album “Duality,” but also touched on some older and newer songs, including “Dream Catcher,” “No Disrespect,” “Ancient History,” “Bleak December,” “Admit It,” “Miss Mysterious,” “I’ll Sleep When I am Dead,” “Swan Song,” and “Forever Stuck in Our Youth.”
In addition to their own medley, the band also took a break from the stage to let drummer Danziger do his thing- and drum his own remixes to some recent pop songs, including Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” Black Pink’s “DDu-Du DDu- Du,” and “Baby Shark.”
With the crowd ready to sing and dance some more, the band then came back out to wind down the night with new singles “Midnight Thoughts,” and “Dancing With The Devil,” and old tracks “The Haunting,” and “Why Worry” before exiting for their encore.
And when they returned, the night ended with a performance of “Partners in Crime” which once again featured merch guy Jim on the vocals, and the final song of the night, “Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing.”
“We are Set. It. Off!” The band chanted along with the crowd. “We’ll see you again soon.
Did you attend the show? Let us know your favorite part in the comments below, and be sure to check out our full photo gallery by scrolling down!
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