Earlier this year Lemuria and Into It. Over It. announced that they would be going on tour this winter. Shortly after reading news of this tour I went into a bit of a frenzy over how good this show was going to be. 2014 has been a solid year for tours with some pretty stacked line ups but this one took the cake by far. Granted, I’ve seen both bands perform at least once this year but something about seeing the two of them together just stood out to me. Not only that but the fact that they were coming to what is arguably one of the chillest venues in Southern California at the moment basically sealed the deal for me. Well this past Tuesday the tour finally came and it was like having Christmas 3 weeks early. To make things better, playing in the big room that same night was Young Jeezy. Yes, that Young Jeezy and it made for some excellent people watching the entire night. Not to mention I probably got a contact high that night just by being so close to the other show.
There was an opening band that night but to be honest I wasn’t into them. Nothing against them just not might thing. They went by the name Steppe People, google them and see if you’re into them. Maybe they’ll be your new favorite band! I would link you myself but all I got were articles about Eurasian Nomads when I tried googling them.
Anywho, moving on. After their set Evan came out and wooed the crowd with his guitar as he donned a shirt featuring Mickey Mouse about to shoot up heroin. Quite the way to acknowledge you’re mere miles from Disneyland while on tour. Whether solo or acoustic Evan always kills it and Tuesday night was no exception. He played a fantastic set while cracking jokes in between songs. At one point I even jumped onto the stage to be a part of a dance battle inspired by the booming bass from the Jeezy show. I obviously lost due to my lack of “skills that pay the bills” but the audience won and that’s all that matters. Though what may have easily been the highlight of his set that night was hearing ” The Shaking of the Leaves” being played live for the first time. I think the room collectively cried for a few seconds as Evan played this rarely performed song. I’m not making an emo revival joke here the song just has a lot of emotional significance behind it, especially for those who had the pleasure of knowing a man by the name of Mitchell Dubey.
The Emo King melting everyone’s heart just a little bit.
After Evan departed the stage and everyone got a tissue to wipe their tears Lemuria quickly set up their gear before kicking off their performance. I’ve probably seen Lemuria a good 20 times or so now and this was definitely one of their better sets. Sure the booming bass from the room next door served as a slight distraction in between songs but the band handled it well, cracking jokes every so often that had everyone busting up laughing. Other bands might have let it ruin their day but not them, they just kept on smiling! Lemuria is a band that never really has an off night from what I’ve seen as their performances are always tight and that evening was no exception. What served as a special treat for the evening was the band brought Evan back on stage to perform a few songs together at the end of the set that will make their debut on a split due out sometime next year. Save for a cover by Modern English all of the songs were new and they sounded pretty damn awesome. What was really cool to see is that each person wrote, or in Alex’s case chose, a song for the split and whoever wrote the song was the one to sing it. Which means we got to see little Maxy singing his own song!
Isn’t little Maxy so handsome? Look at that ‘stache!
Lemuria is rad. Into it. Over it. is rad. If this tour is coming anywhere near you it is in your best interest to go otherwise you’re just some lame-o. That or you couldn’t get work off, I guess.
Here is a shot of Alex judging you if you don’t go. He’s not mad, just disappointed
All photos are courtesy of Jackie Wilding. Bestest friend ever.