The Starset demonstration landed in Phoenix on October 1, 2019. The location they chose for their encounter was a 14,000 square foot red brick building from the 1920’s in the warehouse district called The Pressroom. The venue is a perfect setting for an intimate experience of live music.
The opening band, A Brilliant Lie, really set the tone for the rest of the night proving themselves to be an astonishing opening band. Cracking jokes with their brilliant lies, the band awoke the crowd and kept them full of excitement by involving other rockers in the audience. They had asked the crowd to participate and get down low and stated there was no excuse because, they too in fact laid onto the stage while singing and playing their instruments. The fabulous Tara Lightfoot (lead singer of A Brilliant Lie) sang and rocked on beautifully despite her not feeling too well as stated by drummer Chris Lane. They had covered Toto’s Africa and performed their latest single The Tarot with nothing but excellence.
Coming all the way from Japan to kick off after A Brilliant Lie in the Starset tour, Hyde opened their set with incredibly high energy talent. Their show began with a black light lit stage with Hyde’s protruding bright eyes and vibrant colored masks. Just like A Brilliant Lie, Hyde also had crowd involvement with their songs like Another Moment. Hyde closed their phenomenal set with their cover of Duran Duran’s Ordinary World.
Palisades proceeded to pump up the crowd, despite their lead vocalist not on tour due to medical reasons. The bass player and co-vocalist Brandon Elgar filled the lead role for the night. Coming from someone who has never seen Palisades live, I must say that they took my breath away! It’s not often expected for bands to sound THAT good in a concert but even with a missing team member, they definitely did not disappoint!
Finally! The moment we were all waiting for. Starset was well worth the wait. Their performance went above and beyond most expectations. The crowd is cheering in anticipation waiting for the curtain drop to finally sing along to songs such as Manifest, Monster and Echo. The lights, vocals, special effects and instrumentals were so powerful that you could feel the music through the goosebumps on your skin. Performed with an ever so slightly harder twist, the cover to Led Zepplin Kashmir was introduced as an inspiration to the band. After a brief intermission with a countdown, Starset fans knew what was coming next. Costume changes played a huge factor, because what would Starset be without space suits! Performing songs like Carnivore,Bringing It Down, Starlight and ending the set with Demons kept the crowd moving and singing the whole night in this intimate venue. It is very obvious that Starset puts raw emotion, time and effort into their music and their performances. All together, the show was an amazing experience.
Starset
Palisades
Hyde
A Brilliant Lie
