Review and Photos by Megan Juarez-Fontana
Venue: Arizona Financial Theater (http://www.theatrephoenix.org/?msclkid=8671e620edd0176e308a83757906fa6f )
Date: Tuesday November 7th, 2023
Tour: Jaws Of Life Tour
Tonight was about to be a memorable night of epic bands joining together to put on a performance that would be remembered for years to come. The lines were so long they wrapped around the block and everyone could not wait to get inside the venue. The minute the doors opened everyone rushed to the merch tables or their seats. the merch line went up three flights of stairs and never let up.
Pierce the Veil was the headlining band for this tour. Pierce the Veil is a post hardcore/punk pop rock band that formed in San Diego in 2006. The band’s lineup has gone through 2 very small changes and this is their current lineup Vic Fuentes – lead vocals/rhythm guitar/keyboards/piano/programming, Tony Perry – lead guitar, Jaime Preciado – bass/backing vocals keyboards/programming and their touring member Loniel Robinson- drums.
The band came out in almost total darkness as a mariachi song played. The band was backlit by green lights. It created a beautiful shadow effect as the band began to play. They played their first song, “Death of an Executioner” in darkness. A little over halfway through the song giant cannons went off. The air was filled with strips of green, yellow and white confetti strips. The audience looked up in awe and joy. Many scrambled to collect some as a keepsake.
After the song ended a stage hand came out with a small hand held leaf blower and blew the confetti off the stage. The band then began to play “Caraphernelia” and “Circles”. During these songs the band was lit by multicolor lights and the audience could see the band members clearly. Dry ice cannons went off, creating streams of smoke. The visuals the band had throughout the night really added pizzaz to their already off the hook performance.
This band is an amazing band to watch perform. They are full of fun and energy. The band is constantly moving all over the stage. They run, jump, stand on the platforms and they engage with their audience. Pierce the Veil had the audience screaming for more. The band ended their set with “The Jaws of Life” off their 2023 album, The Jaws of Life. Pierce the Veil could not leave their audience wanting more, so they came back to the stage and performed a 2 song encore featuring “Besitos” and their most popular song “King for a Day”. Everyone definitely left the venue satisfied, happy, full of dopamine and in general everyone was on cloud nine.
Pierce The Veil
The third band of the night was L S Dunes. L S Dunes is a fun side project fronted by Anthony Green. The current band’s lineup is made up by Anthony Green – vocals, Frank Iero – guitar, Travis Stever – guitar, Tim Payne – bass guitar and Tucker Rule – drums. Unfortunately during this tour Tim payne was not a part of it but filling in was Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez – bass.
L S Dunes is a post hardcore/punk rock band who are full of energy. This band was the perfect opener for Pierce The Veil. This band was all over the stage, they did not stay still and really put their heart and energy into their performance. Anthony Green is a very iconic performer. I overheard someone have an ah-ha moment in the audience. They mentioned how the singer gave them Circa Survive vibes and the moment that left their lips they realized it was Green from Circa Survive. Green puts a lot of energy into his performance; he makes sure his audience is entertained and not bored to death. He jumps, dances and moves all over the stage, creating a theatrical performance. The band has a fun and unique sound that makes them stand out against others.
L S Dunes
The second band to take to the stage was Dayseeker. Dayseeker formed in Orange County, California in 2006. This post hardcore band’s line up is made up by Rory Rodriguez – lead vocals, Gino Sgambelluri – lead guitar/backing vocals, Mike Karle – drums/percussion, Ramone Valerio – bass/backing vocal and their touring drummer, Zac Mayfeild. Dayseeker opened up their set with their song “The Color Black”. The audience screamed as they performed. Everyone was falling in love with this set. Many fans in the audience also commented how the band played in mostly darkness with strobes that would go off every so often. This created an artistic effect for their set and really captured the attention of the audience.
Rory Rodriguez addressed the audience throughout the set. he would talk to them and give them little story bits or his thoughts. Everyone ate this up, it created a story line that foreshadowed the songs they were about to play. This set was great transition from the previous punk band into the post hard core L S Dunes that would perform next.
Dayseeker
The first band of the night was punk rock, Destroy Boys. Destroy Boys hail from Sacramento, California and formed in 2015. The band has gone through a few line up changes and this is their current line up Alexia Roditis – lead vocals/guitar, Violet Mayugba – guitar/backing vocals, Narsai Malik – drums and David Orozco – bass. The band opened up with their song “Drink”. Some of the fans were singing along. Others in the audience had never heard of this band but they were intrigued.
Destroy Boys had a lot of energy would help to set the tone for the rest of the night. Roditas started out the set playing guitar, but by the second song they put their guitar away and focused on vocals. By the third song, “Beg For the Torture”, Violet put their instrument down and focused on vocals while accompanying Roditas. If someone was not a fan before, they were now a fan!
Destroy Boys
