Another Eternity Tour
Englewood, Colorado
Gothic Theater
May 19th, 2015
SOLD OUT
Purity Ring, Braids, Born Gold
Reviewer/Photographer; Joe Elio
Not even the chilly Rocky Mountain weather would stop fans from selling out tonight’s Another Eternity show. The line wrapped around the block with some fans having waited since late morning for the chance to get a choice spot by the stage for tonight’s show.
Born Gold opened the show with their unique brand of noise-pop. The crowd was in a receptive mood for Born Gold’s set, even though very few in attending were familiar with the band. For those of you wondering, Megan James and Corin Roddick were original members of Born Gold before branching off and forming Purity Ring.
Canadian trio BRAIDS followed with a relatively short performance of 6 tracks exclusively from their current release, Deep In the Iris. The exquisite sweetness of vocalist Raphaelle Standell-Preston instantly won over the crowd. Focusing on their music, BRAIDS had a pretty good stage presence, interacting with the crowd throughout their set.
Multitalented Taylor Smith did have technical difficulties with his bass guitar, but quickly recovered. Drummer Austin Tufts maintained his highly energetic level during the entirety of the band’s set.
The band weren’t concerned with costumes or flashing lights to set the tone of their set. They let their raw music move the crowd. Seeing Braids on stage, you could tell these three friends were genuinely having a good time playing their music to the sold out crowd.
Braids setlist:
Letting Go
Sore Eyes
Taste
Happy When
Warm Like Summer
Miniskirt
After the band’s crew re-arranged the stage, it was time that time of the show that the sold out crowd had been waiting for. Being a long time fan of the band (for about 3 years or so), this show was highly moving. Every song was played with passion, and everything felt beautiful when it was loudly vibrating through the entire stage. Every song wasn’t a cookie cutter copy of the album’s track. Each was unique and had some differentiation from the studio version. “Belispeak” was a remix and sounded more like “Belispeak II” without Danny Brown’s vocals.
The visuals were a combination of bright, colorful lights hanging down from the ceiling that were all unique to each song in a way that displayed a wide range of feeling in each song. For example, their performance of “Fineshrine” included slow flashing, blue lights, while “Sea Castle” had an array of bright lights quickly fading to darkness. Other songs made use of the fog, which I thought was well used and enhanced the entire experience. Roddick uses a custom-built, tree-shaped instrument during live shows to drive both the music and control the lighting.
During one of the last songs of their set, Megan hit the moon “gong” towards the back of the stage. The crowd cheered in thunderous approval.
Vocalist Megan James has an incredible stage presence. While she only interacted with crowd twice, she conducted them like a ringmaster. James took off her shoes before “Begin Again”, telling the crowd it was “easier to dance” that way. With mic in hand, however, Megan crowd surfed as Roddick finished out their set.
Being only my second concert experience, and only being familiar with Purity Ring’s music, I was very impressed with each band’s amazing set. I highly suggest you catch this tour or the band’s future live shows.
Purity Ring setlist:
Stranger Than Earth
Push Pull
Repetition
Obedear
Lofticries
Heartsigh
Sea Castle
Belispeak
Fineshrine
Dust Hymn
Flood on the Floor
Stillness in Woe
Bodyache
Begin Again
