Pierce The Veil & Sleeping With Sirens “World Tour” perform to another Sold Out Crowd!

Pierce The Veil at Showbox SODO (Photo by Mocha Charlie)

Pvris started off last night’s sold out show at the Showbox SODO. Hailing from Massachusetts, and after changing their name from Paris back in 2013 (for legal reasons), they have been increasing their fan-base on national tours for a few years. They were here last fall a few days after they released their debut CD, White Noise, and from the energy in the crowd, many had purchased it and were eager to sing along. Lead singer, Lyndsey Gunnulfsen, got the crowd energized quickly, singing while motioning for the crowd to raise and sway their hands to the beat. Their music has heavy guitar gifts and lengthy drum beats, making it easy to move with each note. Gunnulfsen also jumped from the stage at the end of their set, perched herself atop the barricade where fans swarmed in to shake her hands and scream with exuberance while she moved from side to side through the pit.

Mallory Knox, hailing from Cambridge, UK, took the stage next. They have been performing overseas since the band formed in 2009. They released their first full length CD, Signals, in January ’13,  and a deluxe version of the same CD with five additional tracks in October ’13, but they have yet to release anything more up to date. But, even though this is their first international tour to the US, and have yet to make their mark here, the crowd took to them quickly and embraced the (old) songs as something refreshing and new. Fans waved, screamed, and moshed to their set, surfing the crowd and falling to the floor. The band stopped toward the end of their set to make sure everyone was on their feet and could enjoy the remainder of their set.

Since the event was all ages, nearly 90% of the crowd occupied the main floor, making for a quite cozy, and extremely warm, evening. Numerous fans were pulled from the pit throughout the night, and security squirted what looked to be a few cases worth of water into the crowd. Considering the side stages were equipped with 14 large CO2 cans, seven on each side, fans that were being smashed against the barricade stood their ground to maintain a “front row” view of what was to come.

As the Sleeping With Sirens set neared, loud chants of  “Kellin,” (their lead singer) rose from within. As he, and guitarists Jack Fowler and Jesse Lawson emerged from the shadows onto the stage, shouts of  “I love you” could be heard from every direction of the crowd. The band started out slow and played a few acoustic songs as a trio. They then let loose with the full band for the remainder of the set, with numerous bursts of smoke from strategically placed canisters, as well as a big lighting set-up that included 2 large LED monitors. As the lead vocal mic died during the middle of their first full band song, the crowd took over and uttered every single word. Mind you, the mic was fixed toward the end of that song, yet the crowd still sang along to every note until their very last song. Their latest CD, Madness, will be released March 17, and can be pre-ordered.

The lights went out after a lengthy set/stage change, and chants of “Pierce The Veil” grew louder. The crowd erupted in shrieking screams as the band took the stage. Lead singer, Vic Fuentes, took center stage in his signature reversed baseball-style cap, and sang his heart out to endearing fans. He, Tony Perry (guitarist) and Jamie Preciado (bassist) took turns shouting lyrics from risers on each side of the stage, all while drummer Mike Fuentes went wild behind an elevated drum kit at rear center-stage. Their set began with mass confetti spewed from the stage, raining down on the fans, some of whom began lining up as early as 8 a.m. the morning of the show.

More confetti rained down throughout the set, while blowers blew it from the stage and further into the crowd. Whenever there was a lull in the room, more “PTV” shouting occurred. This is a band who plays to – and with – the crowd, pointing at fans from the stage for their cues for exact lyric shout outs. PTV recorded their first album here (A Flair For The Dramatic ’07), and Vic paused toward the end of the set to mention how much he loved Seattle, and that he would love to call our city his home one day, which elicited shrieks of approval from the teens in the crowd. A highlight (for at least one special fan), was the part of their set when they invite a fan on stage to sing a few bars of  “Bulletproof Love.” They selected a young girl named Jordan, who was all decked out in tie-dye, much to the disappointment of  all of the other girls in the crowd, especially to an even younger fan who had been holding up a large sign (for nearly their entire set) that read, “Can I Sing With You?”

When the band left the stage, the crowd revved up for an anticipated encore, chanting “King For a Day,” to which the band obliged. Their set felt brief, and fans more than likely could have shouted lyrics and, “I Love You” to the stage for hours. Alas, due to the stage curfew, the band stopped, and returned to their tour bus, on to the next city. This tour will continue through March in the US, and then they’ll tour overseas through the end of August, bringing on the Atlanta metalcore band, Issues. Many dates (as with the majority of previous dates) sold out weeks ago.