The Amity Affliction Celebrates ‘Let the Ocean Take Me’ at The House of Blues in Boston [Photos]

Wow, ten years since Let the Ocean Take Me came out already?! On Friday, May 24th, The Amity Affliction came to the House of Blues, Boston for their tenth-anniversary tour of Let the Ocean Take Me. Which I personally feel is their best recording. On tour with Amity are Mugshot, Dying Wish, and Currents.

Mugshot started the night off with a bang! They played for about 25 minutes and performed songs like “Hate Speech,” “Life’s Debt,” “Cold Will,” and “Violent Ends.” They were a fun band to see live, with the hardcore riffs and breakdowns. The crowd in the pit was having the time of their lives!

I was excited to finally see Dying Wish live. I had heard so many great things about them live and the band in general. It’s also great to see women being represented in metal. Dying Wish played about nine songs that night which included “Symptoms of Survival,” “Enemies in Red,” “Cowards Feed, Cowards Bleed,” “Torn from Your Silhouette,” and “Innate Thirst.” Vocalist Emma Booster knows how to get a crowd going! She kept everyone hyped and moving around. There’s something about hardcore bands that makes me love watching the crowds and how they react to the music being played.

Metalcore band Currents killed it, as usual! It’s great seeing local bands achieving their dreams. The crowd was rowdy and moving around during their set. They played eleven songs which included mostly their newer songs like “Never There,” “Better Days,” “The Death We Seek,” “Remember Me,” and they ended with “Over and Over.” No matter how many times I have seen this band over the last several years, they have never disappointed!

Lastly, The Amity Affliction took to the stage. It was a little weird and sad to not see co-lead vocalist Ahren Stringer there. He went home the night before for personal reasons. Lead singer Joel Birch mentioned how hard it was to be up there without him, but that Ahern would never be replaced and how he would be back on stage with him when he was ready. They asked Tim Beken from the band True North to step in on bass and backup vocals, who did a great job his first night!

There were two parts to the show. The first part, the band played the whole Let the Ocean Take Me album, front to back. All the nostalgia! They left while a video was projected on the stage of the band members having fun and it showed some footage from over the years. At one point the crowd was cheering “AHREN, AHREN, AHREN.” Joel came back on stage a little emotional after that.

During the second part of the show, they played five more songs: “I See Dead People,” “Drag the Lake,” “All My Friends Are Dead,” “Like Love,” and “Open Letter.” The band ended with two encore songs, “It’s Hell Down Here” and “Soak Me in Bleach.”

Every band gave their all which made this a night not to soon forget.

The Amity Affliction (w/ Currents, Dying Wish, Mugshot) @ House of Blues (Boston, MA) on May 24, 2024

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