Once it was time for Underoath to take the stage, Tahoe and I found good seats in the upper balcony. Yes haters, I’m old and I am fragile, so I prefer to sit during shows if possible, and watch the young kids beat each other up. The Boulder Theater has a great balcony that isn’t too far from the stage and you’re able to capture the essence of the entire performance with good sound. Anyway, Underoath has quite the live show, with multiple light setups on the stage facing the crowd, and a huge projection screen the projects movie clips and slides throughout the show.
Underoath opened with “Returning Empty Handed” and I was instantly reminded of a Norma Jean show with the onslaught on my senses. My only complaint was that the stage was very dark for most of the show; it was very hard to see the guys in the bands throughout the evening. Earlier in the evening Blessthefall pointed out that there was no barrier and that kids should be stage-diving and sure enough, kids started running all over the stage with no problems from security. However when the kids started getting on the stage for Underoath, stage-hands were quick to discourage it, and for good reason since it was so dark on the stage that on misstep could be disaster.
It didn’t take long to see that Spencer would be handling most of the clean vocals. I was surprised at how well he did them too, they sounded great and a new fan of Underoath probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference between Aaron and Spencer. A few times throughout the set guitarist Tim Tague also added some clean vocals, but not nearly as often as Spencer. As for the drums, Daniel was excellent on his smallish 4-piece kit. The kit was noticeably smaller than the previous band’s, Between the Buried and Me, drumkit which featured two kick-drums and a gong. Daniel was thrashing away with a ton of energy and he was sporting what looked like an epic mustache.
The set was very organized with a break between each song. Some songs like “Casting Such a Thin Shadow” has specific video clips whereas other songs featured the same loop of clips shown throughout most of the show. Underoath play two new songs from their upcoming album coming out in October, and I was less than impressed with both of the songs. The music was alright, but the clean vocals by Spencer were terrible. There could be a lot that played into that so I’ll wait until the record comes out to really have an opinion. The band played a set heavy on Define the Great Line with 5 songs, with only one songs from Chasing Safety; “Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” which was the encore song. “Writings on the Walls” had probably the loudest crowd response of the night besides the encore.
Near the end of the set Spencer took a minute to talk about his faith, saying that they did this music for Jesus Christ. He went on to say they didn’t want to put their beliefs on anyone, that everyone “should find what makes them happy and stick with it.” I’m not sure i’m totally on board with that statement but it seems to be a common statement from Christian bands that don’t consider themselves so much a ministry as a band of Christians, singing about their lives (which very much revolves around their faith when talking about Underoath). It was an impressive show, much better than the last time i saw them in Denver.
Setlist (as best as i could remember it):
Returning Empty Handed
Breathing In a New Mentality
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
new song
Anyone Can Dig a Hole But it Takes a Real Man to Call It a Home
Casting Such Thin Shadows
Writing on the Walls
new song
In Regards to Myself
Everyone Looks So Good From Here
Moving For the Sake of Motion
slower song w/Spencer on guitar ??
encore: It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door