“Half Alive” featured catchy indie music, shadow plays and lots of dancing. a wild mix in simm city!
It was a more than ambivalent evening: I was full of anticipation for “Half Alive” but at the same time I was afraid of the “Simm City” concert hall. nothing has less charm than this room. But well, if I wanted to see the band, I had to go there.
as a heater “wiz the mc“ Committed, a cheerful youngster! He jumped around, performed his mix of rap and pop and really got the crowd going. Who needs a main band when the supporting band is already so good? In any case, I was pleasantly surprised and nodded along with my head in agreement.
But at some point it was time for “half alive“And I had enormous expectations. It started and I was confused: a crumpled sheet was stretched or rather held by two people, some kind of light behind it and the singer Josh Taylor behind it, trying to create some kind of shadow play. That may have looked great for the very last row, but at the very front it was rather amateurish. I was hoping that the group would give up this shadow game very quickly, but I thought wrong. For a whole two songs we were only allowed to examine the shadows of the band and well, that was somehow two songs too long.
By the third song the band finally showed up and I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to have a great concert experience at the front. Not that the band was ugly or anything, but rather the whole gig concept was based on light and symmetry, so I had to place myself somewhere in the middle and at the back. During “High Up”, my first highlight, I was at the back and the whole thing made more sense. a symmetrical light spectacle that repeatedly played with shadows and, more importantly, with dance. and with huge building blocks.
It was by no means a normal concert, it was more of a performance. “Half Alive” not only celebrated their existence as a band, they made much more of it, especially singer Josh Taylor. Every now and then two dancers came along and showed specially rehearsed choreographies. And again and again building blocks were used that served as steps or simple elevations; sometimes they were moved during the dance, sometimes they were simply a place to sit. With all the hustle and bustle on stage, the actual main attraction of the evening, namely the music, sometimes got lost a bit.
I especially remember the songs “Never Been Better” (yes, also because of the dance performance!), “What’s Wrong” (the bassist sat on a building block and before that another three-person dance performance, like from the 90s!) and especially “nobody” – not just because I love this song more than anything, but because the accompanying performance placed particular emphasis on symmetry and the song was also visually beautiful to examine. It was also nice how the entire audience followed along and sang along fervently.
Not quite at the end but almost at the end came “Still Feel”, the real hit and the band’s flagship song, but instead of choosing a banger as the end, the rather long-winded “Creature” was chosen and well, that was a nice number but far from a celebratory ending. And so I stayed back in this room with a school gym vibe and had seen an exciting concert, but it couldn’t get me 100%. The sheet at the beginning and the location somehow ruined a lot. and the ongoing dances remained in the memory, but shouldn’t it be about music anymore? In any case, I’m excited to see how the band will develop – they’re certainly creative and I give them a lot of credit for that!
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