It was October 2nd when Underoath announced that they would be breaking up, and bringing an end to their 14 years of making music. One of the most defining metalcore bands ever, that included over a dozen members throughout their extended tenure. Only a few days ago they began their last tour ever in Worcester, MA in front of a sold out crowd and will play their last show on January 26th in St. Petersburg, FL. Unfortunately the tour is extremely short – 12 shows in 10 cities, with no love for the West Coast, and only two shows west of the Mississippi in Texas.
A majority of the shows are sold out, and many of them sold out fast. If a second date wasn’t released for New York there is a chance that I might have missed seeing my favorite metalcore band play one more time. I would’ve also missed the unique lineup that bridged a few different genres and had everyone jumping up and down throughout the night. The date was set in stone and I headed into the city, to Irving Plaza for the first of two shows that would be played in New York.
The opening band, Letlive, a five piece post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, CA got things going early on. Although they’ve been around for about ten years, the current lineup is relatively new. They put on a solid performance and lead singer Jason Aalon Butler’s vocals had a very similar sound to that of Glassjaw front man Daryl Palumbo. With hints of the former and Everytime I Die like riffs they certainly fit in with the pro-Underoath crowd.
While As Cities Burn is on a majority of the tour they would not be joining up with the rest of the bands until the Philadelphia show. MeWithoutYou, the middle act who a little over a year ago played on Thursday’s final tour, would mix things up. Their melodic verses and spoken word style was certainly a change of pace but it was very unique. It was the first and last time I would probably ever see an accordion at an Underoath show but the Philadelphia based MeWithoutYou is always full of surprises.
The anticipation built, as the screen lifted and out came the six piece band to a standing ovation from everyone in the building. The performance spanned many releases from They’re Only Chasing Safety to their most recent LP Disambiguation. A best of the best for sure as a majority of the onlookers sang along with fists in the air for the last time as a great band took another step towards a permanent hiatus.
In between songs were many thanks from lead singer Spencer Chamberlain to all the fans for their support throughout the years, keeping it short and sweet and not too sappy, and promising that we will see them real soon. While the full band of Underoath is most likely over and many fans are still looking for more answers than growing old as to why they are breaking up, this night was a great ending for many fans in the tri-state area, to enjoy an influential set of musicians for one last time.
Photographer Derek Soto from Sinestra Studios was at the show and documented the entire night. Check out some of Soto’s photos of Underoath, MewithoutYou and letlive’s sets after the jump.
