Hype is a scary thing.
When friends gushed over Metz, describing shows as ‘an explosion of riffs’, I feared that my night could never live up to expectation. After a heavy dose of “Acetate”, my eyes were wide with what could be one of the powerful live musical introductions to a new year.
Setting the night up for some solid grunge, Seattle’s So Pitted, although did not catch the admiration of the crowd easily, offered a precursor for the storm to come. Named after a YouTube video of an interview with an enthusiastic surfer and set to release an album with Sub Pop, they certainly give good reason for building hype. Laying down their experimental sludgy sound, they fueled off of their own fire, physically getting more intense until the abrupt end of their set.
Bully held a lot of weight for me due to the overwhelming obsession I’ve had for 2015’s Feels Like, which centered around the spirited guitar work and growls of vocalist Alicia Bognanno. Bully did their winning album justice, molding its ferocity into a personal push into insanity. The obsession seemed to be universally felt considering that the band has never played a headlining set in Boston, but the group rounded up an alarming amount of singing fans. One of the most endearing moments of the night is when the shy Bogannano pointed out a boy in the crowd, remembering him at Boston Calling as “the boy in tie-dye” who was the only one dancing. “Thank you for dancing, it’s nice!”, she added.
After the high of Bully, Metz took stage with a well received rage. The cohesion between the three produces intense focus, but the defining aspect lies with their thumping bass riffs. The weight of the bass was felt when the bass cut out for a sprawling minute due to technical difficulties, greeted later in the song with heavy cheers. Sharing much of their most recent release, II, they filled the stage by throwing themselves back and forth, and occasionally spinning, above fans whom were moving with the same tenacity. I’m still flashing back to a group, arms around each others shoulders, united in screaming “Spit… you… out!”
Check out more photos with our slideshow below.
