Photos and Review by Marissa Bowen
I’ve been a fan of Copeland for many years so getting to see them evolve and see them live is always a great pleasure. The Seattle stop on their tour took them to a venue called Neumos. It was my first time being at this venue, and it felt intimate right away. I knew I was in for a special night.
The first artist of the night was Many Rooms. A girl walked on stage and picked up a guitar, wearing vans and arms covered in tattoos, she looked like a lot of the people surrounding me. She started tuning and had a board of loop pedals, she struck a note and the room fell silent. There were multiple dim red lights that barely illuminated the stage, which gave an intimate and eerie feeling. The first song she played was hauntingly beautiful with soft vocals and guitar melodies that filled the room. After that song, she was joined by her bandmates onstage. She told us how she’s done solo music for years, but this was her first time touring with a band. She spoke to the crowd in between songs and gave little insights to some of them. She mentioned how appreciative she was for Seattle’s attentiveness. The songs she sang were definitely full of emotion and set the tone for the night.
The second band was From Indian Lakes, who brought an intense energy from the moment they took the stage. Their sound was more fast paced and upbeat, but still emotional in their lyrics, which created a nice bridge between the other bands of the night. Guitar sounds were complemented by electronic sounds. The instruments seemed to flow seamlessly into each other but also stood out on their own. The band members danced along with the music and were simply having fun. The lead singer talked about how nice Seattle was and that this experience was how they’d always remember it. For their last song, they threw a balloon into the crowd, allowing everyone around to join in on their fun.
This tour is supporting Copeland's latest record, Blushing. Their set played quite a variety from all their records though. Fans sang along at the top of their lungs to new and old songs alike. Lively cheering throughout the entire set. The lead singer, Aaron switched throughout the night between guitar and piano (the piano was the main instrument he played).
Two songs in, the band was having trouble with the main bass amp but they calmly talked about it with the sound guy and were able to compromise by possibly skipping one of the songs that has heavy bass parts, but as soon as they said that, it kicked back on. Copeland’s sound has evolved quite drastically over the last two records, and with Blushing they bring an even more intricate and polished sound. They’ve gotten to experiment more, which has only made their sound stronger. They played a couple of fan favorites that weren’t on the setlist. At the end, they told us to pretend that this is the part where they walk off stage but stayed to give us every last moment of beautiful music. All in all, it was a fantastic night filled with meaningful music from all the bands that poured their hearts out onto the stage for everyone to enjoy.
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