NEW YORK, NY—You knew you were in the right place for the Rock Yourself To Sleep Tour with a slew of underage kids huddled around the entrance to the Blender Theater. They were obviously hovering around the door to keep somewhat warm as they puffed on cigarettes, trying to look cool between sets.
Once you were able to push your way inside, you were met with a sold-out house, full of kids making way to re-open the pit on the already stuffy floor area. With a large line-up, I could only imagine how crazy things may have gotten before I arrived. Texas In July and Woe, Is Me along with some local openers, must have only warmed up the crowd for the evening’s headliner, We Came As Romans.
My arrival time did allow for me to catch one other band beside WCAR. For Today took the stage and carried on with a mixed crowd response. The lead singer didn’t necessarily look as though he would pull out heavy vocals and a dramatic demeanor, but he managed to do so throughout the set.
For Today were doing quite well, with a strong crowd reaction, until it was time for their singer to take a moment and speak. Known as a Christian band, it wasn’t so far-fetched that they would speak about their beliefs and how much Jesus means in their lives. After about a minute or two, a few people in the audience booed and you could feel in the air that it was time to move on. They ended on a strong note, but in the future they might consider taking shorter talk breaks between songs.
It was a rough start on this tour for WCAR, as only a few days in and their lead guitarist Joshua Moore was hospitalized. Thankfully he had a speedy recovery and joined the tour on the last couple of dates scheduled, but this was one of the earlier tour stops, so the remaining members played on in his absence. They still gave a great performance, with fans dancing around like maniacs and cheering in support when asked to keep Moore in their thoughts and prayers.
Like the other bands on the tour, WCAR had a shorter than normal set and was filled with songs off their current album, To Plant A Seed. It was an odd start with clean vocals not syncing right away with the music. Blame it on the mixing or gear problems onstage, but a few songs in and WCAR were pulling out album quality sounds.
Their set was over too quickly, especially since I was able to sit and relax and view the fans moshing around below on the floor, even catapulting themselves towards the stage. I really thought they were ending on “To Plant A Seed,” as fans were lead in a long chant of the last few lines of the song. It was a calm moment before the lights remained off and the crowd called for more. Coming back with two more songs, it was the perfect ending for their last New York City area performance before heading back to the studio as a whole band after this round of touring.
