Live Review: Pierce The Veil, Dayseeker and Holding Absence | Utilita Arena, Cardiff | 12/04/2024
As Pierce The Veil return from a six-year hiatus, all eyes are upon them as they embark on their first UK arena headline tour.
Holding Absence
Taking the stage to an almost full Utilita Arena, Holding Absence have worked toward this day before they were even the band they are today. Three albums and many tours as both supporting and headlining have earned them the spot as one of the busiest bands this side of the 2020’s. As they all emerge from behind the side curtains, they’re greeting with an almighty scream from their hometown crows and as vocalist Lucas Woodland plants himself on a riser and starts to belt out the opening line to ‘Like A Shadow’, the crowd echo it back after the first few words are uttered.
What fallows for the next half an hour is possibly one of the strongest opening performances the venue has seen in recent years. While their set is only six songs, they make an impact. The notorious sound of the Utilita arena makes no exceptions even for their own kin as guitarist Scott Carey’s guitar is barely audible for the first two songs sounding very muddy and distorted, but Holding Absence push through and comes out the other side. Benjamin Elliot on bass rivals Woodland in on stage acrobatics with Elliot spinning and jumping like him and woodland are playing an on-stage game of the floor is lava.
As they come to their final song, Woodland tells us of how they’ve been dreaming of this moment since they’ve been coming to this venue as children and how grateful they are of the packed arena showing up early for them. And as Carey & Woodland serenade the opening to ‘Afterlife’ drummer Ashley Green whose kit has been mostly quiet for the set, breaks through the speakers as he hits with such a passion that even from the back of the room you can see the joy in his face as he also sings along with the crowd. As they take a quick picture, they take their leave, showing the potential they have and how easy they captivate an audience even as the first band of the night.
Photo Credit: James Gibbons
Dayseeker
Dayseeker are quite the hot commodity at the current time, with Dark Sun being praised since it’s 2022 release and numerous tours to follow, it’s no wonder they’ve been chosen to act as the main support for Pierce The Veil tonight. However, even they aren’t immune to the curse that comes with being a support band sound in an arena tonight.
Through their ten-song set, they only start to come through the other side by their seventh song, which is unfortunate for them as they put their hearts and souls into their performance. Emerging from the shadows and kicking into gear with the anthemic ‘Gates Of Ivory’, drummer Mike Karle starts the proceedings with his groovy beat as vocalist Rory Rodriguez’s screams come in full effect. Then come his soaring cleans, albeit through muddy distorted sound, but it’s not their fault.
Sporting an impressive ten-song set, Dayseeker play songs from Sleeptalk & Dark sun, five from each record ignoring their past albums in the process, which is a shame because they have some absolute screamers in their early albums that would have propelled their performance higher than it was. ‘Starving To Be Empty’ comes as a change to the songs from them as it’s an acoustic song with just Rodriguez himself. That is until Lucas Woodland makes another appearance as they duet with Woodlands’ vocals overpowering Rodriguez and outshining him. As the band play their final song ‘Neon Grave’, they leave the stage after a wave and a bow. If you were doubting Dayseeker for even a second, they’ve taken all speculation of that away from everyone here tonight.
Photo Credit: James Gibbons
Pierce The Veil
Taking a six-year hiatus from releasing any music, Pierce The Veil came back to the spotlight with singles from their upcoming album, and title of their current tour, The Jaws Of Life. Many were wondering if they could come back with the same energy they had and when they announced a UK tour with some arena shows announced, many were wondering if they still had the fan base to sell even half of the tickets. And they sold out all but one date.
As the lights fade in the arena the crowd erupts with a deafening shriek. As the speakers blare out a mariachi band it skips and cuts as the real atmospheric introduction begins. ‘Death Of An Executioner’ is the band’s first port of call. As they emerge from the sides and wave with vocalist & rhythm guitarist Vic Fuentes hopping on the riser to an almighty roar from the crowd. Then the band plays. It’s a wall of noise that obliterates all other senses. In short, it’s deafening to the point where people started to leave about 4 songs in.
From the support bands being quiet and distorted, Pierce The Veil are so loud that you can barely hear what the band are playing for the majority of the show. Combine that with the crowd often screaming louder than the bands performance is an overload in the worst possible sense. But when, or if, you push through that, the band are on point giving all their energy to the audience and absorbing what they’re given. A cover of Radiohead’s ‘Karma Police’ is given a warm reception, as is lead album single ‘Pass The Nirvana’ which is the heaviest song in the set by far, which does compliment the distortion from the amplifiers.
Bassist Jamie Preciado is the embodiment of energy. From the second he appears on-stage to the second they leave he does not stay in one spot for longer than three seconds as he spins, dives and sprints across the stage. From confetti cannons to CO2 blasts they’re putting on the show of their lives.
That’s when we come to ‘Hold On Till May’. Here, Fuentes invites a young fan on-stage, embraces them, thanks them for their love and support of the band and gifts them a guitar. Then he kneels down and sings the entirety of the song to them. What starts as a sweet moment quickly turns to shared discomfort for many in the crowd as some turn away and, in some cases, walk away from the scene. Whilst it’s clear good intentions where intended, seeing a 41 year old man singing a love song to a literal child – complete with an unwavering hand on their shoulder – just feels, well, deeply, deeply uncomfortable.
The rest of the set then feels like it was thrown together just as the band walked out. The acoustic performance goes down well with the crowd, but the encore of ‘Besitos’ and ‘King For A Day’ feel out of place after the slower songs. What could have been a momentous performance from the band was turned on it’s head as the second half of the show feels rushed and uninspired. Still, the 2012 emo kids have finally had what they’ve waited all these years for, a memorable performance, but between the overpowering volume of the band and the uncomfortable vibe echoing through the arena, it may just not be for the reasons they may have expected.
Photo Credit: James Gibbons