Nov 19

Nov 19 Show Review: Neck Deep Prove "All Distortions Are Intentional" in San Francisco

Neck Deep
w/ Boston Manor, Zero 9:36, Heart Attack Man, Oxymorrons
The Warfield
San Francisco, CA
November 14th, 2021

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

On occasion, I’ll find myself looking at a show lineup and groaning. “Ugh, five bands? The show starts at 6?” Let’s face it: as much as our excitement to live music has been ramped up since concerts have started coming back into our everyday existence, it can almost feel tiresome looking at a lineup with this many artists on it, given that we’re probably not going to know most of them before entering the venue. Thankfully, I wasn’t feeling this way when I went to catch Neck Deep’s headlining tour at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater on Sunday night. I was excited. One of the biggest goals I’ve had as I’ve gotten older is to not be the guy who only listens to the same three bands over and over again, and to at least know which artists are coming up. I once heard that people generally stop discovering new artists by the time they’re 30, so whenever there are lineups with artists that I’ve never heard of before, I’m finding myself chomping at the bit to discover what the future of the scene might be.

Despite having left over two and a half hours before showtime, I managed to get my ticket and photo pass three secondsbefore the first band, Oxymorrons, took the stage for a set infused with alternative rock melodies and old-school hip-hop (Bay Area traffic is no joke). Heart Attack Man brought forth a fast-paced and stripped-down pop-punk set with emo-inspired lyrical attacks. Days later, I still find myself thinking about the set I saw from Zero 9:36, a band that I can’t yet fully explain. There were elements of nu-metal, rap, alternative, and pop all mixed into one. Throughout the entire show, I kept wondering if I was witnessing an act that was going to champion the future of this scene, and I’ll be curious to see if this statement holds up in the coming years. To round out the opening acts, U.K.’s own Boston Manor, donned in all black, played a crushing set that got everyone ready for the night’s main event.

Neck Deep took the stage around 9:15 with a show that proved not only why they’re headliners but how a headlining band should put on a performance. The stage was designed as if it were a teenager’s bedroom, complete with miniature basketball hoop, couches, table lamps, and a TV that continuously ran clips of old PlayStation games and WWE Smackdown highlights. Amidst this setup, the British pop-punk act played through a tremendous of old favorites and newer selections from their most recent album, All Distortions Are Intentional. The band noted that they were supposed to originally tour off this new album last year, but the tour had been pushed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having been released in 2020, this was the first time fans got a chance to hear songs from All Distortions Are Intentional in a live setting, making for a very special night.

Neck Deep’s performance was incredibly entertaining, and not just from a musical standpoint. Vocalist Ben Barlow interacted with the crowd throughout the evening, telling stories of the band’s recent adventures in San Francisco and the cultural divide he and his bandmates noticed when hanging around the Tenderloin (the area surrounding The Warfield). They also made sure to explain the absence of bass player Seb Barlow (who came down with food poisoning prior to the show). Seb did make a brief appearance, however, so that the band and audience could sing happy birthday to him. The show was personal, toeing the line between a punk show in an intimate venue and a large-scale rock production.

After finishing an hour and a half of fast-paced pop-punk songs, Neck Deep rounded out the evening with an encore consisting of “Gold Steps” and “In Bloom”, the latter in particular acting as an excellent closing number. With that final note ringing out, the packed San Francisco crowd filtered out into the foggy evening. Had they kept going past the initial twenty-song setlist, I guarantee I would have stayed even longer.

Neck Deep Set List
Sonderland
Lowlife
Motion Sickness
Lime St.
Telling Stories
Kali Ma
Citizens of Earth
Sick Joke
Quarry
Fall
When You Know
She’s A God
December (Again)
A Part of Me
Can’t Kick Up The Roots
Where Do We Go When We Go
Pushing Daisies

Encore:
Gold Steps
In Bloom