PHOTO CREDIT: B-PRO PHOTO

This was my first time going to see a show at Subterranean in Chicago. This was a pretty cool show to be my first one to attend there. 

Admittedly, when I go to a show, I purposefully don’t check out the opening bands ahead of time. I don’t want to go in with an attitude of “ugh, this band sucks, I’ll just show up later”. So the first time I heard Korine was this evening, when they opened for Dance with the Dead. 

The world of various electronic styles of music are somewhat foreign to me. Korine is an electronic pop band. Lots of synthwave type of elements, the music was very airy, and wide sounding. It sounded great. The conglomeration of various synths, oscillators, drums beats, and the blending of live bass guitar and electric guitar with the vocals was amazingly grafted together to create these beautiful soundscapes. 

By the end of Korine’s set I saw lots of the crowd had gone from being a typical concert going crowd, standing there and watching, to much of the audience moving along to the beat and enjoying the tunes on a deeper level. Overall Korine was great, I would recommend seeing them and checking out their music if you are into synthpop/synthwave. 

After a short changeover, it was time to dance with the dead.

Dance With the Dead seems to float more towards the industrial side of electronic music. Heavy, overdriven guitar tones are very present, along with heavy synths and driving drums. 

DWTD are primarily instrumental. They do have new songs though that do feature vocalists on ‘Cold As Hell’ (feat. Shaun Phillips) and ‘Neon Cross’ (feat. Brandon Saller). I was unsure how they were going to handle the vocalists' parts live, if someone was going to be handling vocal duties, or if they would be utilizing vocal tracks. They utilized vocal tracks, and I feel it was the best thing they could have done. The vocalists that feature have different styles, and trying to find one person to do the songs justice would have been difficult.

The best thing about no one having a microphone, is that the music, and the show was non-stop. They travel with a really awesome light show that is synced perfectly with the music. Oftentimes the light show almost mimicked a vocalist with how it would seemingly breathe and brighten and how the lights moved through the room and the fog. Although there were no microphones in front of anyone, there was still plenty of crowd interaction from Tony and Kim when they would stand atop the ego risers and shred away with the songs.

The crowd was definitely there for DWTD. The entire show I saw people dancing, grooving along with the beat, and overall having a great time. Bands like DWTD, who are somewhere between metal, and industrial/electronic, attract a diverse fan base. I saw lots of different genres of fans in the crowd. There were people from the goth community, the metal community, the dance/rave community, and people who appear to carry no affiliation to any sort of subculture. Bands like Dance With the Dead really help unite all of those communities and remind everyone we are all there to enjoy the music, and just have a good time.

Dance With the Dead were fantastic to go and experience live. All the members were on point with their timing and just absolutely killed it. The light show was incredible, the vibe in general was great.

Dance With the Dead are currently on tour, with direct support from Korine, until December 14th. Make sure to check them out when they are near you.

#CONCERTREVIEW #DanceWiththeDead #Korine