Dance Gavin Dance Electrifies the Packed Fillmore
Somehow the day after I completed the first ever Twin Cities Taco Bell 50k, (yes this is a real 31 mile race and it was an awesome experience), I found myself headed into downtown Minneapolis to catch the Return of the Robot Tour put on by the one and only Dance Gavin Dance. On the heels of releasing their second single “All the Way Down” off of their forthcoming album “Pantheon,” the Swancore outfit brought a four band bill to the Fillmore for what was sure to be a memorable night.
First up for the night was Sacramento based outfit Dwellings. While I may have been unfamiliar to this band before tonight, I definitely walked away a brand new fan and will be getting this band in my rotation. What makes the start of a show super fun and memorable is a high energy and charismatic artist, and without a doubt Dwellings checked both boxes for me. Even though it was sonically clear that they are influenced by other bands in the Swancore genre, I felt like Dwellings all around had something fresh to give the Minneapolis crowd, as they grooved along to each song in their set. With most of the crowd not specifically in attendance for Dwellings, there were definitely several moments where those who were familiar made their presence known: a group holding a Dwellings banner, the hardcore fans in the front row singing along, and the cheers for every belted moment from the stage.
Shortly after Dwellings departed the stage, Chicago based rockers Belmont took over and cranked up the energy a few notches. Similar to Dwellings, Belmont had not been on my radar prior to seeing them live, but seeing them for the first time left me wanting to get way more familiar with their music. Throughout their set there was literally never a dull moment or dip in energy; the band truly amplified their sound and made their set feel like the crowd was watching them in a tiny 200 cap venue. To put it simply, Belmont is just a fun band to see live and a lot of the crowd agreed; the crowd surfers finally started to get into full swing during their set, and the crowd jumping and dancing along to each song. I’ll definitely be anxiously awaiting to see them make a trip back to the Twin Cities, hopefully to experience their live set in a smaller venue.
The penultimate band of the night was Seattle’s heavy pop band The Home Team. Heavy pop definitely felt like an appropriate way to categorize The Home Team’s music; the vocals of Brian Butcher waxed and waned with the intensity of the music, all at once feeling soft and heavy. The Home Team had the crowd going from the moment they took the stage; from the start of their time on stage all the way to the end, the crowd didn’t seem to stop grooving along to each and every song. Honestly it didn’t even feel like The Home Team was on stage for very long. Their eleven song set flew by, with each passing song feeling like an anthem, and I felt like I was one of the very few in the crowd that was not familiar enough with the band to be singing along.
Finally, the headliners of the night Dance Gavin Dance took to the stage, starting their set with stand alone single “Speed Demon.” The band made it very clear early on in their set that the night was geared towards more of the OG fans in attendance as they dusted off tracks from their older records “Downtown Battle Mountain II,” “Dance Gavin Dance,” “Whatever I Say is Royal Ocean,” and “Downtown Battle Mountain.” This show marked the first time that many Twin Cities fans in attendance got the pleasure of having Andrew Wells take the helm with lead vocals, after the departure of previous frontman Tilian Pearson last year, and Wells flawlessly executed the band’s older material. After having seen Dance Gavin Dance a handful of times during what is known as the “Tilian Era” of the band, I will say that is was refreshing to hear more of the band’s deeper cuts; the band’s extensive near eleven album discography and shorter setlists don’t typically allow for much room outside of the hits and new singles. Before the night was over, Dance Gavin Dance brought out Taz Johnson of Belmont as a vocal guest for fan favorite “Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most.” My only complaint for the evening was that the band’s set was truly short at only thirteen songs; even though their songs require a high degree of musical skill to execute live, it would have been great to have one or two more songs squeezed into the set. With that said, Dance Gavin Dance put on an incredible show at the Return of the Robot tour and left fans eagerly anticipating the release of “Pantheon.”
