After seeing Every Time I Die play one of the best sets of the day at Warped Tour 2016, I had been anticipating the next time they’d land a show somewhere near me. They are currently on tour across North America with Taking Back Sunday; with no Vancouver date on the tour I was understandably bummed. Somehow, MRG Concerts snagged them for a one-off show, put them in the most fitting venue imagineable, and slotted in two fantastic Vancouver locals — Anchoress and Neck Of The Woods — to open up the show. This was not a night to be missed.
The Rickshaw Theatre, located on East Hastings Street in Vancouver BC, has a gritty feel to it, partially due to the location and grungy atmosphere inside the venue. With the show hitting close to the cap of 600, the place was extremely packed with sweaty punks. The venue was full from the get go; opening up the night were Vancouver locals Anchoress, who warmed up the crowd nicely with their post-hardcore sound. Next up was Neck Of The Woods, a progressive metal band also from Vancouver, amping things up just a notch before Every Time I Die was set to take the stage. They enlisted the help of a few guest vocalists throughout their set, with lead vocalist Jeff Radomsky all smiles all night. There was not a dull moment to be had at this show.
Every Time I Die took the stage at 10:30pm, immediately pouring every ounce of energy they had into their heavy-as-hell set, spanning pretty much every album in their catalogue, with quite a few cuts from their latest release, Low Teens. Guitarist Jordan Buckley and bassist Steve Micciche stayed airbourne nearly the entire set, bouncing around and jumping off any speaker or riser they could find. Lead vocalist Keith Buckley delivered an energetic vocal performance, complete with ample head bangs and bouncing around the stage, though not nearly as much as the guitarists.
There was no shortage of stage divers and crowd surfers, with many of them ending their journey right in the midst of the tiny photo pit. At one point, Jordan reached down and ‘borrowed’ two cameras from photographers in the pit; moments later he launched himself off the stage and dove into the crowd, nearly hitting several of us in the pit. On top of sweating to death in the extremely hot venue, we were tasked with trying to capture extremely fast moving subjects AND avoiding getting hit by crowd surfers and stage divers! It was a challenging night, let me tell you that — but it was worth every second.
I found myself on the upper balcony of the venue watching audience members launch themselves off the stage into the crowd over and over again. By the end of the gig, nearly half the audience ended up on stage with the band. Every Time I Die left a long-lasting impression on everyone who attended the night, and definitely made a few new fans in the process. You’re welcome to come back to Vancouver whenever the hell you want!
