Photos & Review: Common Vision Tour
Featuring: Hundredth, Counterparts, Handguns, Being As An Ocean, Forever Came Calling, My Iron Lung & Capsize.
The Marquis Theatre, Denver, CO. 8/8/14
Photos by: Shannon Shumaker
Review by: Dillon Crader
Unfortunately I wasn’t unable to catch Capsize play their set because The Marquis opened early and I had to work, but when I arrived to The Common Vision Tour on the super sunny August day, My Iron Lung was mid way through their set. Like I just said, I missed the first half of the set so I wasn’t too sure what happened to their bassist, but John Swaba from Forever Came Calling was filling in on bass. Bassist or not, though, My Iron Lung sounded superb. When they played “Day Dream,” I thought it sounded spot on compared to the record. The crowd was pretty still during their set which was a bummer because they sounded killer and deserved a lot more of a feed back from what they got.
After My Iron Lung was one of the two only pop punk-bands on the Common Vision Tour; Forever Came Calling. I have seen them two times before and I couldn’t wait to see them again. They are one of my favorite bands, so I had to be up front for their set and my friends and I were screaming the lyrics and having a great time. I didn’t look behind myself to often but their set was the definition of pop-punk; shoulder jumping, stage diving, and circle pits. They played a new song mid-way through the set that they released a while back, but besides that they played songs off of their first LP “Contender.” Even though the audience wasn’t really going too wild yet, I felt as if they started the energy for the night and in a really positive way. They ended with the track “Front Porch Sunrise,” which was an amazing song to close out with. Overall Forever Came Calling started the energy for the night and had a great performance.
Up next was Being As An Ocean. I had been dying to see these guys play for about two years and finally got the chance with this show. They opened with “The Hardest Part Is Forgetting Those You Swore You Would Never Forget,” and the crowd went from very little energy to monkeys flying around the venue. Kids started crawling on top of one and other to grab the microphone from vocalist Joel Quartuccio. After the first song, they played songs mostly off of their recently released album. Joel spoke a lot on stage in between songs and gave off a very positive and polite vibe. One thing I really enjoyed about their set was the guitar fuzz and noise they would repeat between each song. It was different and unique and it gave off a really soothing vibe. Joel also had an amazing stage presence, whether he was jamming out on stage or leaping into the crowd or running around the audience. He basically started his own mosh pit when he jumped down into the crowd and it was awesome to see. Being As An Ocean not only sounded soli, but they put on such an amazing performance live that even if you aren’t into their music, they might sway you with their stellar live performance.
After Being As An Ocean, Handguns was the second pop-punk band to play for the night. Before Handguns even took the stage, they let local band, Head Injuries play a song, cutting their own set short in order to do so, which I thought was very cool of them. Once Head Injuries were done, Handguns stormed the stage. Now, I won’t sugar coat anything – I am not the biggest fan of Handguns wasn’t expecting a ton from their set. As soon as they started playing, however, the crowd went wild. Fans were crowd surfing and trying to get their chance to share the mic with vocalist Taylor Eby, and everyone on the floor was jumping up and down. Handguns also sounded amazing live compared to their record, in my opinion, and made their set was definitely enjoyable to watch. I was only bummed when “Early Retirement,” one of the tracks that I like by the band, wasn’t played at all. The crowd was continuously wild for their set, though and everyone seemed to be having a good time, even including the “hardcore” kids, which was refreshing to see. Though I went into watching Handguns set a little biased, I still had a really fun time watching them perform, especially when a fan decided to throw a sex toy on stage and the entire band almost completely lost it.
The second to last band of the night was Counterparts. And first things first, these guys sounded perfect, and I mean really perfect, live. The first half of the floor was just a huge mob of people screaming and shoving at one another, while the back half of the floor was a passive sea of moving bodies. There wasn’t a point at all during Counterparts set that the crowd wasn’t going wild and they managed to keep the energy up during their entire set. They were so into their music it was awesome to watch, especially their drummer. Counterparts played quite a bit of material, but I was most excited to hear them perform their song “Compass,” and when they finally did play it, it sounded just like it did on their recording. I know I probably say that a lot with bands, but the guitar work is a such an important part to that song in my eyes and they definitely nailed it. It is always such an amazing feeling to have a band perform a song you love spot on, and not only did Counterparts sound amazing, but the entire crowd was definitely into it. It’s definitely awesome to see kids be moved by music in such a positive way.
Last but not least were the co-headliners, Hundredth. This was the first time I would ever be listening to Hundredth and I had high hopes. And thankfully, I was actually blown away. I’m not the biggest fan of most hardcore music but certain bands like Being As An Ocean and others really get me pumped, and Hundredth was no exception. The crowd seemed to have trickled out a little bit after Counterparts, which was a bummer because Hundredth put on an amazing performance. The people who left early really missed out. Hundredth had such an amazing energy on stage, you could tell they were giving their all and didn’t care how many people they were playing for. I was really happy that I stayed and watched them perform for that reason.
Overall, the Common Vision Tour was one of the best lineups I have seen all year and I was so happy I could go to the show, even though I was late from work and missed Capsize. Every band sounded awesome and put on one hell of a show. I can’t say anything bad about any of the bands that performed because I had such an amazing time. If the Common Vision Tour hits your town, make sure you’re there! You are in for a real treat!