spiritbox concert

went to a spiritbox concert last night with my friend (now girlfriend, she asked me after the show ^^). they were touring with after the burial and intervals.

we showed up at the venue when the first set had already started, which was intervals. they make very chill instrumental progressive metal. gf got a beer that tasted exactly like soy sauce for some reason and i had a tonic water because alcohol does not agree with me whatsoever.

we went down to the general area when the second set started, and positioned ourselves just on the edge of the newly formed pit. this was my first time at a metal show, much less a deathcore show, so my only exposure to mosh pits before was from hardcore shows, where it's a lot more chill. surprisingly emocore/skramz kids will just stand and rock back and forth for the most part.

but these people, they were throwing themselves at each other with reckless abandon. at one point someone crowdsufing took a hard fall squarely on his back and trent hafdahl (the guitarist and lead vocalist of after the burial) had to stop screaming and make sure he was okay. all the instrumental parts were tight as fuck and very fun to dance to.

we tried waiting around for spiritbox to start playing, but we quickly realized that the venue was getting scarily packed. like. to the point you couldn't stand without touching someone on all sides. i was scared of being crushed, and my gf was starting to panic, so we tried making our way outside. there were some people who would just not budge, but multiple others saw our predicament and literally shoved them out of the way to let us through. the metalcore scene is very caring for the most part.

after we got out and cooled off, we checked out the merch stalls (there was practically no one there surprisingly) i picked up an intervals CD and an after the burial tshirt, while my gf got an intervals guitar tabs book and tshirt. we headed back to the main area to try and watch the spiritbox set but they wouldn't let us back in because it was so packed, so we had to stand at the back and watch from there. they had a massive LCD screen behind the stage and i actually teared up when "circle with me" was playing because it was so emotionally resonant.

we ended up leaving early because neither of us were super feeling it since it was so packed. overall it was a great experience, but i think in the future i want to go to smaller, older bands/venues where it's not as crowded.