Underoath @ The Phoenix (Toronto, ON) on February 13, 2011 [Show Review]

Going to an Underoath show reminded me of my early days listening to metalcore and screamo. They were one of the first bands I got into that was part of that genre of music and their release They’re Only Chasing Safety had a big impact on my musical taste which was altered from then on. Over the years Underoath have gone through some member changes and just recently lost their last founding member, Aaron Gillespie, who with his signature drumming style and vocals was the band’s backbone. People were for sure curious to hear what Underoath would sound like without Aaron’s influence, both on disc and live.

The evening’s first band was Sky Eats Airplane, a group from Fort Worth, Texas who managed to bring out the 14 year old girl in me, with their high energy stage performance and intensely tight clothes. Sky Eats Airplane is soon to release a new disc and as such played a few of the news tunes – of which I wasn’t the biggest fan.

Animals As Leaders were up next, and enough of the crowd was very eager for them to play. Due to the lack of a front man, the band set up two projection screens behind each of the guitarists in an effort to give the stage show a little more balls. Once the set started I felt I was two acid hits short of getting super into it. The performance was lacking overall (the guitar players were shredding their faces off), but the projector screens really helped with the lack of stage participation.

Third up was Thursday, a band that has made a huge impact for the last 14 years. On this tour, the guys were playing their album Full Collapse in its entirety (it is the album’s 10 year anniversary) and I was quite impressed, especially since a few of the members looked old enough to by my father. Looking around the crowd during the set, I witnessed fans young and old singing every word to every song – clearly a crowd favourite.

Last but not least, Underoath hit the stage. They’ve added quite the visual aspect to their live show complete with light rig and a giant projector screen that played what looked like outtakes from the horror movie “The Ring.” Guitarist Timothy McTague took the place of Aaron on vocals and managed to hit the nail right on the head. Underoath really showed everyone why they’re in the place they are today. They are tight live, make great-sounding records and put on an awesome stage performance – even without any original members. For any fans that haven’t seen live them yet, I highly recommend doing so.

Check out the song: “Writing On The Walls”