Underoath – Live At The Guvernment in Toronto
A man in a gas mask, face fully obscured, flickers in black and white and classic film style on the back wall. His hand rises and the words, I Am The Messenger write themselves across his hand. The crowd is going nuts as Aaron Gillespie walks out onto stage first, and stands on the stool behind his drum kit, arms outstretched, in a Christ like pose, reminiscent of Scott Stapp, but far less arrogant. The rest of Underoath, vocalist Spencer Chamberlin, guitarists Tim McTague and James Smith, bassist Grant Brandell and sample/keyboard player Christopher Dudley, join Gillespie on stage and he leads them into Breathing in a New Mentality with an incredible display of drumming that has to make anyone who would deride the founding member of Underoath and lead singer of The Almost, myself included, take notice of his considerable talent on the drums.
It doesn’t stay a one man show for long, as Spencer Chamberlin, scrawny with more hair than flesh on his body, emits his trademark scream and growling vocals, and McTague and Smith pound out the incredible lines that have made Underoath a tour de force in almost any scene that ends in the word core.
The sounds of an old school projector clicking clue the already insane crowd that Underoath are about to reach back to 2006’s Define the Great Line for In Regards to Myself, giving Gillespie the chance to stretch his vocal chords, singing the hook, “You’re sleeping a bed of shame,” to which Chamerlin growls back “Let the light breathe some new life into this room, It’s what keeps you coming back.”
Neither Underoath or the crowd is letting up as Chamberlin screams the opening words of It’s A Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door from 2006’s genre defining They’re Only Chasing Safety. The crowd croons along with the softer more melodic moments of the song, and chant along in one voice, “I’m drowning in my sleep.” As Chamberlin screams over the chant.
The crowd’s heat and passion are fueling the band as they continue to pound through a set that included. Emergency Broadcast : The End Is Near, I Don’t Feel Very Receptive Today, You’re Ever So Inviting and The Only Survivor Was Miraculously Unharmed.
By the time Gillespie asks, “Can you feel your heart beat racing? Can you taste the fear in her sweat?” The crowd is so hyped that it seems that the roof is going to come off, and when A Boy Brushed Red, Living In Black and White’s break down hits and Chamberlin again unleashes his surprising power, the pit erupts.
The set continues with Desolate Earth: The End Is Hear and Returning Empty Handed, before Chamberlin tells the crowd that they’ve been the best of the tour (cheap pop), and then with his religion planted firmly on his sleeve he does his best to spread the word of Christ without trying to sound like a pretentious ass. The crowd clearly feels it as Jesus gets the biggest pop of the night.
He then announces that this is the last song and they break into Desperate Times, Desperate Measures of their latest release, 2008’s Lost In The Sound of Separation.
Darkness follows but the crowd wants more and Underoath obliges returning for their encore and playing Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear and Define’s Writing on The Walls, before retiring for good, and leaving behind a drained and wholly satisfied crowd.
Underoath live is an amazing example of what can happen when talent meets unbridled energy. Gillespie, for all his awkward ginger faults, ie. The Almost, is perhaps, one of the best drummers working today and seeing Underoath live proves one thing, it is definitely Gillespie’s band, but it’s Spencer Chamberlin’s show.
Underoath – A Boy Brushed Red Living In Black And White
Underoath – In Regards To Myself
Underoath – Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
Tags: Aaron, Aaron Gillespie, concert, Jesus, Spencer Champerlin, The Almost, Toronto, Underoath
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