Francheska Pastor of Bad Seed Rising performing at Slims in San Francisco, CA. Photo by Jared Stossel.
On a cold night outside of Slims, a venue right off of highway 101 in San Francisco, a cluster of fans are lined up against the brick wall awaiting that moment when the doors to the 1000 capacity club open and allow for a chance to not only find a place on the GA floor, but escape from the more and more likely chance of rain that is about to occur.
Once the doors open and the crowd enters, people take their place in front of the stage. The crowd is small, but it makes for a more intimate show. This was the scene at the Ghost Town headlining tour stop, the first night of the tour, with openers Dangerkids, Palaye Royale, and Bad Seed Rising.
Now I'd like to say something in particular about the openers: I was extremely impressed by them. Let's start with Bad Seed Rising. The members are all younger than I am, and they could kick my ass at singing or playing an instrument any day of the week. The four piece band, led by vocalist Francheska Pastor, were a force to be reckoned with, and every band had to match the bar they had set. (I personally think the only one that truly matched it was Dangerkids, but we'll get to that in a minute). Expect big things from this band in the future.
Palaye Royale went up, and while I was impressed with them, I didn't dig it quite as much as Bad Seed Rising. However, I have an immense appreciation for the kind of music they were playing. The way they were dressed as they took the stage implied that we were about to listen to a metalcore artist. It felt more like amped up blues rock, and it stuck out to me in a good way for the rest of the evening.
Dangerkids took the stage and, after hearing about them for many years, I can finally understand the hype. Think about Linkin Park for a moment. Do you remember the first time you heard Hybrid Theory or Meteora? Now think about your favorite metalcore band. Do you remember the moment when you first heard a song like "Hey John, What's Your Name Again?", or anything off of Define The Great Line? I assure you that when you see these guys, they will give you that same feeling of joy, or at least something damn close to it.
The closer of the night, Ghost Town, a band that has usually been highly enjoyable for me in the past, didn't quite exceed my expectations this time around. The entire band was shrouded in darkness for nearly the entire set, with a strobe light here or there to "shake things up". I know these guys can put on a fun show; I've seen them play before. But the material just wasn't cutting it for me. Maybe it was because the crowd wasn't into it as much, or maybe I was just out of it, but unfortunately, something felt a bit off in their set. I'll revisit them next time around, though.
This has been another Shameless Promotion.