photo credit all seint c/o weworemasks

letlive. is one of those bands that constantly put themselves on a grueling tour schedule. While out on the road for their previous album, Fake History, the band hopped on any tour they could, and in turn, wound up in Houston about 4 times in a year’s span. I saw all of those, and they quickly jumped the ranks as one of my favorite live acts of the last few years, despite all of those sets being similar 5 song, 25-30 minute sets. Needless to say, I, along with the rest of Houston’s letlive. fans, were very pleased to find them on a co-headlining slot with Architects (UK).

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly


photo credit all seint c/o weworemasks

Jason Butler is an enigma of a frontman. He has no boundaries as to what he’ll put his body through, punishing it and thrashing about the stage with little to no disregard for what’s around him — and that’s what makes this band so unbelievably exciting to watch live. For starters, they opened their set with the closing track of The Blackest Beautiful, “27 Club,” pulverizing the crowd into mash right off the jump. Flesh it out with “Le Prologue” and “Sick, Sick…” from Fake History, and they already had the crowd eating out of their palms, singing back every word to them.

photo credit all seint c/o weworemasks

This was the first time seeing the band after they released The Blackest Beautiful, their 2013 outing. The record itself was a bit more polished and varied than their debut. But as far as the live show goes, there was nothing polished here. The bands frenetic energy never slowed as they zipped through their hour long set, even through their slow songs. And yeah, I know what you’re thinking — “they have slow songs?” The band flipped “Pheromone Cvlt” into an acoustic singalong that had everyone in their feelings, and “Muther” produced a hell of a gang vocal.

Since it was a co-headline tour, one would’ve expected the research to be done on who would’ve drawn a bigger crowd. Unfortunately for Architects (UK), they were not the bigger act, and they were also the final act of the evening. A large bulk of the crowd had already hit the road, but the band played an hour long set as well, for a pack of rabid fans waiting for tracks off of their newly released Lost Forever / Lost Together.

But it wasn’t a surprise that letlive. stole the show. They did it a while back when they opened up for Enter Shikari in the same room, and Butler swung to and fro from the rafters. Tonight, there was none of that, but there was no lack of passion in the set. And if it still needs to be said, then be sure to hit this tour when it comes to your town, if not only to see these ‘soul punx’ tear it up.

[SETLIST]

27 Club
Le Prologue
The Sick, Sick, 6.8 Billion
Dreamers Disease
The Fear Fever
Virgin Dirt
Pheromone Cvlt
The Dope Beat
Muther
Banshee (Ghost Fame)
Casino Columbus
Day 54
Renegade ’86