Albuquerque, New Mexico was the second to final date on the Rest In Space tour and The Historic El Rey Theater in downtown Albuquerque made sure to make it a great night. Though there was enough miscommunication to start a small war, once everyone made their way into the venue, all went well.
Packed like sardines ( no seriously, I’m pretty sure some sort of fire codes were violated) , everyone was ready for the show to finally start. Since Falling In Reverse had pulled off the tour, the first band of the night was a local band called StarBot. Calmly they took the stage and promptly began their set. Though the band only played a few songs, they did an excellent job of warming up the crowd for Crown The Empire and of course, Pierce The Veil. I only caught a portion of their set, from what I heard they were a well rounded band with room to grow. From the second the local band stepped off the stage, the wonderful crew set forth with clear the stage to gear up for the next band of the night. Crown The Empire.
Now, after a short set change, Crown The Empire took the stage in all their glory and instantly began rocking out. Playing only six songs, the band started with their 2016 track “Zero” and finished their set with 2014 track “Machines”. But, from start to finish the band interacted with the crowd and vice versa. The jumping, crowd surfing, and moshing sure made their set memorable, especially the moments when the mentioned items began to all come together as one. The most notable things about the their set had to have been their bassist, Hayden Tree. Strong yet firm, Tree laid down the bass in perfect time with the rest of the band boosting their performance by miles.
Finally the reason most attended the show, Pierce The Veil took the stage. Starting off their set with their name projected on a white sheet, they played a short ‘intro’ video and almost immediately began playing once the white sheet was ripped down. Kicking off their twelve song set with the first song off their 2016 release Misadventures, track ‘Dive In’ took the crowd from 0 to 100 fast. With great lighting and a hyped crowd, the band had a wonderful stage presence that projected throughout the night. With every song the crowd took a few steps closer in attempts to get even closer to the band. Playing fan favorites such as “Hold On Till May”, “Bulls In Bronx”, and even some tracks from their newest album, the most notable song of the night was “Stay Away From My Friends (Acoustic)”. Being the first ever tour this track was played on, long time fans were ecstatic to see the song on the set list for the tour. Played acoustically, the soft and gentle manner in which it was performed added a layer to the set that confetti and united chanting couldn't match. But of course, as soon as the song ended the high energy tracks took off once again. Rounding off the whole night, Pierce The Veil played “Circles” and well known hit “King For A Day” as the night's encore. Compared to the last time I saw them the band has really refined their live performance, making for a all around great experience.
Though the tour has ended by the time this post makes the website, I recommend checking on Pierce The Veil on their next tour,as well as Crown The Empire.