The Midnight Lit Up the Room at Palace Theater
Photos by Kaite Peterson
Hey hey!
New Constellations opened the set, and this was one of those moments where I thought I didn’t know them at first, but pretty quickly realized I definitely had heard some of their stuff before.
The crowd was clearly excited for them, and it made sense. They put on a really solid set. The vocalist brought a ton of energy right away, and you could tell she was genuinely having fun up there, not just going through the motions but really showing up for the crowd and for herself too. She was honestly dancing throughout the entire set it was a little impressive!
There was also a really nice moment where they talked about how difficult it’s been to stick with music and build it into something sustainable, and how much it means to finally be at a point where they can do this as a career. It felt really cool to see a band be really honest about how hard it can be, and that it isn’t always an immediate thing!
They finished strong and left a great impression. Definitely a band I’d keep an eye on, and I’d be excited to catch them again on another tour.
The Midnight came on after a good little wait, and while there was clearly a lot of stage setup and moving parts that had to come together, it ended up being completely worth it.
With a massive screen setup behind them, they opened with a really cool visual of that classic bedroom they use across so many of their albums and videos, then rolled right into “Shadowverse” after the “Syndicate” intro, which was a perfect way to kick things off.
I’ll say this upfront: every single song was a banger. Even some tracks I’ve heard before and wasn’t the biggest fan of recorded ended up sounding awesome live. That’s really where this band shines. Their stage presence was incredible all around. The vocalist made a point to interact with fans whenever he could, the saxophone player would come out front and absolutely blast those notes center stage, and every member had their own moment to shine through solos and little featured moments. It was just really fun watching them all play together.
One thing I especially noticed was the bass player, who was actively speaking to the rest of the band through his own mic, clearly helping keep everyone locked in. He was giving cues with his hands to the drummer and keys, syncopating everything in real time, and it was such a neat little detail to watch happen live. It gave you this extra appreciation for just how much is happening behind the scenes during a performance like this.
A couple of the biggest moments for me were during “Gloria,” when the crowd sing-along got huge, and they stripped things down at the end to just vocals. It completely pulled everyone in and felt like one of those rare concert moments where the whole room is fully locked together. Another standout was the frontman talking about “Comeback Kid.” He mentioned how it was kind of a rushed, last-minute song when they wrote it, but that it’s since become something really powerful to him. The thing he said during that moment that really stuck with me was, “It’s hard to become a person in real time.” Honestly, that’s one of those lines that feels worth remembering.
Later on, they brought out the vocalist from New Constellations to join them on “Jason,” and the crowd absolutely lost it. It was a lot of fun hearing how loudly people sang along throughout the whole set, too. It genuinely felt like almost everyone there knew every word.
They wrapped the main set with “Days of Thunder,” then came back out for a massive encore with “Summer’s Ending Soon” and “Sunset,” whichfelt like the perfect way to close everything out.
This was just a really fun concert with a crowd that felt super at home in the space, and I think Palace Theatre was the perfect venue for them. Between the huge visuals, flashing neon lights, incredible vocals and instrumentation, and just that chill atmosphere they created, it all came together so well. Definitely one I’d highly recommend if they roll through again, which hopefully they do!
