Show Review: Grayscale Brings Energetic Show to Santa Cruz

Show Review: Grayscale Brings Energetic Show to Santa Cruz

Jared Stossel
Music
Grayscale performing at The Catalyst Atrium in Santa Cruz, CA. February 8, 2020. Photo Credit: Jared Stossel

Grayscale performing at The Catalyst Atrium in Santa Cruz, CA. February 8, 2020. Photo Credit: Jared Stossel

Grayscale
w/ Hot Mulligan, WSTR
The Catalyst Atrium
Santa Cruz, CA
February 8, 2020
Photos and review by Jared Stossel

The last time I saw Greyscale, they were the second opener on a pop-punk tour coming through the Bay Area. I believe I saw them at Berkeley, and I remember them being good, but I honestly can’t remember when and where I saw them. I just remembered them, yet nothing truly extraordinary seemed to stick out for me about them. So when it was announced that they would be embarking on a full U.S. headlining tour, I hadn’t really understood just how large their following had gotten. I was pleasantly surprised upon watching their epic headlining show last Saturday in Santa Cruz to see just how massive they had gotten.

Grayscale brought their headlining tour to The Catalyst Atrium on February 8th, and brought along two of the most burgeoning bands in the pop-punk scene: Hot Mulligan and WSTR. (A third opener, Lurk, unfortunately had to drop off the tour prior to the Santa Cruz date due to their vocalist developing appendicitis.) There was a palpable energy in the air; every single band brought forth an electrifying set. It’s quite rare to see a show in which every band on the bill elicits a major reaction from the crowd, so it’s always a pleasure to see an event like this when it’s presented.

For me, two of the most substantial aspects of Grayscale’s headlining show lie within the production value for such a small-scale tour, as well as the ability to genre-hop so effortlessly. The first half of their set was heavily in the world of alternative and pop-punk, while the second half ventured into dance-rock territory. It’s potential that you could see a band like Grayscale touring with some of the biggest acts in both pop-punk and alternative rock, but it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to see them hop on a tour with an artist like, say, The 1975 in the next few years.

A majority of the set list came from the band’s most recent effort, 2019’s Nella Vita, with a number of tracks brought forth from their highly acclaimed 2017 album, Adornment. As a special treat, the band added “Palette” to their set, a song from the band’s 2016 release, What We’re Missing.

Tours like this are a spectacle to behold, not just because of the sheer amount of fantastic music that rounds out a lineup, but because of the production value that is added to ensure that fans are getting every single dollars-worth. A tour like this illustrates that Grayscale are not just a fantastic band, but it shows that they’re one that could very well be around for years to come (and deservedly so).

Grayscale Setlist
Just Right
Slipping Away
Twilight (My Heaven)
Palette
Mum
Echoes (Carry On)
Painkiller Weather
Desert Queen
In My Arms
Baby Blue
In Violet
Fever Dream
Atlantic

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