Las Vegas, NV - Hailing from the "land down under', Polaris brought their North American tour to the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas. Supporting them on this tour was Blessthefall along side Thousand Below and Nerv.
Up first was Nerv, but everyone quickly realized something was off when only two members, vocalist Dillion Jones and guitarist Jordan Grokett, came onstage. They soon began to explain their unfortunate situation. While driving from California, their van broke down in Barstow, about 2.5 hours away from Vegas. Not wanting to cancel their show, they found an Uber willing to drive them to their destination. They picked up an acoustic guitar from a local store and made it just in time for the show. If that’s not the best embodiment of “the show must go on” then I don’t know what is. The crowd cheered and applauded them for their efforts and sang along to “quickly improvised” acoustic renditions of songs.
As their set ended, they announced they’d be Ubering back to meet up with the rest of their bandmates, hopefully with a repaired van waiting for them. I only hope the rest of the tour goes without anymore incidents for them.
Following them next was Thousand Below, who very quickly elevated the energy of the crowd as they took over the stage. Their blend of heavy melodic riffs, and emotional lyrics took hold over the crowd. Their set included newer songs “Shake” and “Wrong Again”, which judging from the crowds reactions, had quickly become fan favorites.
Up next were the metalcore veterans in Blessthefall. After taking a four year long hiatus, they had returned to the stage and had announced a new album was on the way. As they began their set, the crowd exploded into chaos. Vocalist Beau Bokan quickly commanded everyone off their feet, shaking the entire venue. Oh yeah, since this venue isn’t actually ground level and on the second floor of the building, you could actually feel the venue shaking. Without leaving much room to breathe, they delivered an intense performance filled with old favorites and their newest songs. It’s good to have Blessthefall back in the scene again.
Finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for, coming all the way from Australia, the metalcore titans in Polaris made their way onstage to close out the evening. An endless barrage of high octane riffs and crushing breakdowns ensued. Midway through their set, the band took a moment to dedicate a song to their late bandmate, Ryan Siew. His sudden passing the previous year was an immense loss felt throughout the music industry, and crowd reflected their sentiments as they all applauded in solidarity. This wasn’t a loss in momentum for the evening however, the crowd rallied for the final songs and became even more chaotic. More and more crowd surfers were sent flying across the crowd and over the barricade.
As the last song approached, vocalist Jamie Hails announced to the crowd that there would be no encore. Instead of pretending to end the show only to come back out, this was it, and he demanded everything from crowd for the final song. Closing out with the song “Inhumane”, the crowd erupted in applause as the show ended. Polaris had delivered an intense performance that is sure to leave a lasting impression on the Las Vegas crowd.
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