The Appleseed Cast @ The Rainbow, 19th June 2016
As the glorious British summer continues in fine form I make my way into Digbeth on a wet and dreary Sunday evening for what promises to be one hell of a night. Tonight The Rainbow plays host to Atlas:Empire, Kurt Travis, Listener and The Appleseed Cast which is one darn fine line-up if you ask me.
Its not often I get to shows early and my punctuality is rewarded, openers Atlas:Empire impress me to no end and they even have Kurt Travis bopping away down the front. Hailing from Glasgow these fine gentleman play a kind of post-rock style of music with soaring melodies from the 3 vocalists, its a fine treat for my eardrums.
I always preferred Kurt Travis over Johnny Craig in Dance Gavin Dance so I was intrigued to see how his solo stuff would go down. Backed up by a laptop on a chair Kurt aired tracks off his 2016 split EP with Paul Travis including ‘Stay Please’ as well as throwing in ‘Everything is Beautiful’ off his 2014 release of the same name. Its an interesting set, the electronic side of things working well for some of the tracks but it was the songs with minimal backing that showed off his vocal range that worked best.
It feels like forever ago that I last saw Listener live and I have to admit I’m super excited about getting to see them again, 3 years is far too long a break! After a quick little band Pow Wow Listener kick straight into ‘Eyes to the Ground’ starting as they mean to go on, Kris’ drums are crystal clear, Christin Nelson drives the melody whilst barefooted wordsmith Dan Smith delivers the lyrics in his very own unique style. Dan interacts with the crowd between pretty much every song in a bashful and slightly awkward way but its endearing and witty and garners a few chuckles from the crowd. Dan reminds people to pick up some souvenirs ‘merch’ from the back just so when we wake up tomorrow we can remember exactly what we did last night, that being enjoying ourselves immensely as the boys from Kansas play us some sweet, sweet music.
Its always an absolute pleasure to watch Listener and this performance is no different, ‘Eyes to the Ground for Change’, ‘Tornado’ and ‘Wooden Heart’ all get an airing tonight. We even get 2 newbies thrown into the mix one of which is called ‘Bombs’, and Dan spits the lyrics “When the bomb drops my heart drops too…”. Its great to hear new music which fingers crossed means more is on the way which is most excellent news, plus they will be back in Birmingham in September once more gracing this stage. They close the set with ‘It Will All Happen The Way It Should’ which builds and builds to a deafening crescendo, Kris’ arms are blurred as he beats the living daylight out of his kit finishing up draped across it trying to catch his breath. Its so cathartic and immersive experience watching Listener and its obvious the band love what they do which is always a bonus to see when watching live music.
The Appleseed Cast are one of those bands that have managed to make a living from playing these smaller shows for 19 years now and there seems to be no stopping them, they released their latest album ‘Illumination Ritual ‘ in 2013 and there is also talk of new music in the pipeline. There are some bands that never really evolve musically but that’s definitely not the case for these guys, they’ve spanned numerous genres over their history. The early records have a sound akin to the early emo scene championed by bands like American Football, they then moved into a more indie-rock territory and finally to the post-rock sound the band are channelling today.
Their energy on stage although not as ferocious as Listener’s is still there, the drums are once again crystal clear in the mix and drummer Nathan Wilder pounds his skins with some serious heart and soul. Other than a few technical hiccups the set is tight as a (insert awful pun here) and although Singer Chris Crisci is the only founding member you still get that sense of camaraderie between the band as if they’ve been playing together their whole lives. The vast majority of the set is pulled from the records Illumination Ritual and Mare Vitalis which celebrated its 16th birthday this year. They close the set with the first song I ever heard of theirs ‘Fight Song’ which also happens to be my favourite and which I was hoping would get an airing this evening so I left very happy indeed.
Review: Hannah Sebestjanowicz