Posted May 2, 2019 by Kailey Howell Concert Reviews & Galleries

Dance Gavin Dance – Royal Oak Music Theatre – 4.17.19

Dance Gavin Dance, Periphery, Don Broco, Hail the Sun, Covet
Royal Oak Music Theatre – Royal Oak, MI – 4.17.19
Photographer: Kailey Howell

Dance Gavin Dance sold out Royal Oak Music Theatre on their Michigan stop of their spring tour. Following an extremely successful Swanfest, the lineup this tour was packed full of powerful artists full of gusto.

San Francisco natives Covet opened the evening. The band’s soft sound was enjoyable. They opened with “Glimmer” off of their 2018 body of work, effloresce.

Hail the Sun was easily one of the most anticipated acts of the evening. Vocalist Donovan Melero was constantly moving on stage, adding to a fast paced chain of events that became their set.

Opening with “Black Serotonin” from their 2014 album Wake, Hail the Sun intensified the energy in the room. The crowd got rowdy, and started singing along with Melero.

Their set included a nice diversity of their discography, ranging from “Glass: Half Empty” off of their 2018 album Mental Knife to “The ‘fun’ in disfunction” off of their 2016 album Culture Scars.

Don Broco was a band that didn’t quite fit the bill the same as the others, nonetheless they put on one of the strongest performances of the evening. The band has recently blown up following the release of their third album Technology.

Each band member was full of smiles on stage as they opened with “Everybody.” While their set included mostly tracks off of Technology and Automatic it did not include their most recent single, “Half Man, Half God.”

Periphery just recently released their new album Hail Stan that opens with a whopping 16 minute song.

The band came out on stage with chins up, an empowering feeling fell over the crowd as they opened with “The Bad Thing.” However, the highlight of their set was the closing track “Masamune.” The tone filled song paired with Spencer Sotelo’s piercing vocals highlighted the bands talent.

Finally, Dance Gavin Dance took the stage to an uproar of applause. Vocalists Tilian Pearson and Jon Mess took center stage, surrounded by supporting band members Will Swan, Tim Feerick and Matt Mingus.

The crowd was filled with old time fans, as well as new, younger aged fans. The diversity was humbling, showing the bands longevity.

DGD opened with “Son of Robot” off of their 2018 album Artificial Selection.

One of the most captivating moments of the set was during “Count Bassy” when the crowd sang along with Pearson and screamed “empathy is overrated.” There is nothing like a sold out venue screaming along in unison to leave someone speechless.

The band closed their set with a one song encore of “Evaporate,” the closing track of Artificial Selection.

Keep up to date with Dance Gavin Dance with Facebook. Check out their recently released music video for “Head Hunter” below.