Danielle Burch
Entertainment Editor
There seems to be no stopping Pierce the Veil this year. The band toured on The Vans Warped Tour this past summer, released a new album, Collide With the Sky, and is now on a headlining tour with Sleeping with Sirens, Tonight Alive, and Hands Like Houses.
The tour made its stop at The Plaza Live in Orlando on Oct. 23.
I should have been prepared for the type of crowd that would be in attendance that night, but the amount of 13 year-old girls screaming over Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil and Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens still took me by surprise. The girls incoherent yelling was almost if not higher than voices of the men that they were swooning over.
I have to admit that a special guest performance from Jeremy McKinnon of A Day To Remember had me squealing a little on the inside. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself so let me rewind to the opening act of the night, Hands Like Houses.
At first their attire of island print shirts and well-styled mustaches had me distracted, but once I got past that I realized they were a pretty good band. They did sound quite familiar though. Almost like a revamped Johnny Craig-less version of Emorsa. There was just something generic about HLH.
I’m not saying that their music is garbage, but simply that I could list off about five other bands that are doing that same exact thing they are and have the same exact sound. If this band wants to really make it they are going to have to prove their selves and push the envelope just a bit more.
Next to take the stage was Sydney, Australia natives Tonight Alive. I’ve caught a glimpse of this band at Warped Tour and I knew instantly they had something that many bands just didn’t. I don’t mean a female lead singer, but rather this vibe about them that is punky and fun and sticking close to their roots and who they are. When I heard they were going to be on this tour I was extremely thrilled that I could finally see what this band could really do in 30 minutes.
TA lived up to my expectations and got the crowd moving and pumped for the night main course. Jenna McDougall hopped about the stage and constantly had the attention of the audience for the entire set. I can’t wait to see where this band is heading because they have some big things in store for them if they continue on path they are on now.
Sleeping with Sirens should be renamed to the Kellin Quinn show because that was basically who the entire performance was about. Yes, I understand that the lead singer is a leader and face for the band, but with some of the things that barely teenage girls were yelling it made difficult not to just write off SWS.
I have to admit I am not the biggest fan of this band solely based on the over produced vocals on their albums, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well they sounded. It was nice hearing Quinn’s voice for what it is and not the product of a computer and a guy pressing buttons.
Overall their set was great. The crowd was into it and screaming almost every last lyric. It made me a like them a little bit more, but not enough to catch myself singing one of their songs in the shower.
Pierce the Veil was last to take the stage and they brought the house down in a major way. From start to finish their set was full on fun fill heavy music that had everyone moving. I have to admit I caught myself tapping my foot and singing a few of their older songs as I snapped photos.
Most of their set consisted of new material which is always a bit of a disappoint to me, because I like hearing older material with the occasional new song thrown in. But when they did play older songs it was magical. For example Vic Fuentes came out with just an acoustic guitar and played Yeah Boy and Doll Face. You could feel the energy from the crowd as they sang their hearts out.
The fun didn’t stop there. The set had so many guest vocalist that I almost started to think the set had turned into an open mic night for lead singer. McDougall, McKinnon, and Quinn all came out to assist.
The one guest vocalist that brought that house down was none other than you guess it Quinn. King for a Day the latest single of PTV that features Quinn and was the closing number and I couldn’t think of a better way to close out the night.
All I have to say after seeing this show is that everyone should look out for these bands because they are slowly on their ways to being something big.
If you want to get a taste of what these bands sound like then check out: Pierce the Veil’s Collide With the Sky, Sleeping With Sirens’ Let’s Cheers to This, Tonight Alive’s What are you so scared of?, and Hand Like Houses’ Ground Dweller.
