Band Brings Its "Misadventures Tour" To A Sold Out House Of Blues

- advertisement -

All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

The estrogen level was high, as was the excitement, when San Diego's post-hardcore darlings PIERCE THE VEIL brought their 2016 "Misadventures Tour" to Houston for a stop at the intimate House Of Blues. In what has become standard fare for the Southern California quartet, the entire first leg of the tour in support of the band's brand new release, Misadventures, was completely sold out in advance. And while the band could have easily played larger venues (and sold them out as well), they opted for more up close and personal settings for the first round of dates because they had a special surprise in store; they would be performing the new album in its entirety for the first time in the band's short but storied history.

The place was packed as you might imagine and although roughly two-thirds of those in attendence were of the female variety under age 18, there were a good number older folks present as well, some merely tagging along to chaperone their offpsring while others were true fans sporting PIERCE THE VEIL swag, no doubt given their first exposure to the band by their kids in a true role reversal.

I arrived late and missed the first of two openers for the tour, that being MOVEMENTS, another SoCal post-hardcore/emo outfit. The second band of the evening was I THE MIGHTY, an alternative/post-hardcore style band from the Bay Area of California. This band has been around for the better part of 10 years and was certainly known to the audience as they shrieked their approval as the band took the stage with "Lady Of Death" from the band's latest album, 2015's Connector. I THE MIGHTY showed a lot of energy and vigor in their 9 song performance, with vocalist Brent Walsh eliciting the most screams of 'I Love You!' from teenagers at the barricade. Songs included in their set were "Playing Catch With .22", Four Letter Words", "The Dreamer" and set closer "Speak To Me".

At around 9:30 PIERCE THE VEIL appeared onstage and in a shower of confetti that most bands reserve for the end of a show, the guys exploded into the appropriately titled "Dive In", delivering on the promise of playing the Misadventures album from start to finish. With barely time to catch your breath they continued the set with what was, according to the band, the fastest song they've ever written, "Texas Is Forever", followed by "The Divine Zero". For a band that was nearing the end of its first leg of tour dates they certainly didn't display fatigue in any way, with bassist Jaime Preciado jumping and moving all around the stage and drummer Mike Fuentes energetically pounding the skins while his brother, vocalist/guitarist Vic Fuentes and guitarist Tony Perry held down the melodic end of things. Highlights of this performance were the band's new smash single, "Circles" and its infectiously catchy chorus and the dual encore of "Bulls In The Bronx" and "King For A Day", without a doubt still the band's biggest hit, with the song's matching video garnering an astounding 69.5 million views on YouTube!

While not your typical metal fare, PIERCE THE VEIL does show a lot of metal influence in its music and certainly delivers when it comes to live performances!

Setlist:

• "Dive In"
• "Texas Is Forever"
• "The Divine Zero"
• "Floral & Fading"
• "Phantom Power And Ludicrous Speed"
• "Circles"
• "Today I Saw The Whole World"
• "Gold Medal Ribbon"
• "Bedless"
• "Sambuka"
• "Song For Isabelle"