While some were undoubtedly bummed out that San Antonio's Nothing More were unable to make the trip to Australia due to last-minute VISA issues, the sub-in of local legends Closure in Moscow is a great consolation.
Picking up the Dance Gavin Dance support duties at the Forum, the five-piece showed off tracks from the shiny new album, Soft Hell, as a sample before they head out on their headline tour for it next month. And show off they did. This was Closure at their finest, with perfect vocal harmonies, big choruses, and new songs that hold their own alongside the classic crowd favourites.
No strangers to a DGD support (Closure toured Europe with them in 2013), this was the perfect way to lock in the grooves for the bum-shaking that was to follow.
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It’s been five years since Dance Gavin Dance last visited, meaning they had two albums to catch up on, including their tenth release, Jackpot Juicer. Wasting no time, the group opened with the new single, The Ghost of Billy Royalton, with plenty of energy. Lead vocalists Tilian Pearson and Jon Mess covered every inch of the stage early, with all six band members showing the crowd how best to dance to post-hardcore music.
The new tracks continued with Feels Bad Man and Synergy from the latest record before moving into the back catalogue with Head Hunter. New track, For The Jeers, allowed also new band member Andrew Wells to show off his impressive lead vocals before a little bit more new stuff and an eventual dive into the classics with Tree Village. To the band’s credit, they never stopped dancing and only took a quick break before offering an encore featuring We Own the Night and Evaporate.
For an evening that featured as much booty-shakin’ as it did circle pits, that chaos that is Dance Gavin Dance was a lot of fun.
