Photos / Review: Cold Like War Tour with We Came As Romans and more at the Worcester Palladium

Who: Cold Like War Tour – We Came As Romans, The Plot In You, Oceans Ate Alaska, Currents, Tempting Fate, Lakeshore

Where: The Palladium, Worcester, Massachusetts

When: April 5, 2018

The last time We Came As Romans came to Worcester, it was as support for I Prevail. They ended up being my favorite band of the night, so when it was announced that they would be coming back to the Palladium (the upstairs this time), I counted the days down until they finally arrived.

When I got into the venue, local band Lakeshore had already started their set. Hailing from Connecticut, Lakeshore was started by Ben and Joe Lionetti, whose names you might recognize as founding members of Emmure. I’ve known about Lakeshore since Warped Tour 2017 but hadn’t actually gotten to see them live until this show. The band had a great presence with a lot of local fans in attendance. If you get the chance to catch a set of theirs, I would definitely recommend it.

Tempting Fate out of California was next. They were new to me, but I left their set a fan. They pumped up the audience like pros and vocalist Cory Beecher sang into every phone and face within reach. They started getting some crowd surfers around the middle of their set and, towards the end, Beecher dove from the stage into the audience and was crowd surfed around the venue. I think Tempting Fate is a band that I am going to see at the Palladium again very soon and I will make sure to be there for that show.

Connecticut band Currents blew me away with their set. I was not expecting them to be anywhere near as energetic or as heavy as they were, but I loved every minute. The audience did, too, because they had plenty more crowd surfers during this set. Vocalist Brian Wille made sure to let the audience sing along with him, which they did happily. I was not familiar with Currents before this set, but I am making them a top priority for future shows, where I will be singing along with every other fan in the room.

When Oceans Ate Alaska started prepping for their set, you could tell that the more well-known bands were starting the night. Shouts of “OAA” started going around while they were getting their gear in place and sound checking. I had never seen Oceans Ate Alaska live before, but I was more familiar with their sound than the rest of the bands. They delivered a really high-energy, pounding set. There were a ton of crowd surfers, including one girl who took over for Jake Noakes for a quick second, while he looked on smiling, and sounded terrific. Based on the fan response, this British band will be crossing the pond often to perform for their multitude of American fans.

The Plot In You was the penultimate group to go on before the headliners of the night. I love their current record, Dispose, which released in February but was really interested to see how it would sound and be performed live. The entrance was really simple and just the way I like it: vocalist Landon Tewers came out and started singing “Rigged” before the rest of the band joined him. The setlist had a bunch of my favorites off Dispose, including “Not Just Breathing” and “Feel Nothing.” I was blown away by their set. Had I not known any better, I would have assumed that it was a double headliner with We Came As Romans. Everyone in the audience was screaming their heads off, there were crowd surfers aplenty, and the production level was really high. The songs that they performed off Dispose sound a lot better live, especially with the audience singing along to every word. If you get the opportunity to see The Plot In You live, take it and trust me that you will not regret it.

Finally, it was time for We Came As Romans to take the stage. The audience was more than ready, as they started a moshpit while the band was side stage and preparing to take the stage; there was even a crowd surfer. We Came As Romans launched a Twitter poll prior to their tour asking fans what songs they wanted to hear, which meant the setlist had a lot of songs off their most recent album Cold Like War, including “Wasted Age” and “Cold Like War,” but also included songs like “To Move On Is To Grow,” with “Hope” being a no-brainer that it would be performed. I am a big fan of the new material, so I really enjoyed hearing that, but the variety of the setlist kept the show interesting. We Came As Romans delivered the exact same quality of performance that they delivered last time they were at the Palladium and I could not have asked for more.

The Cold Like War tour showcased a lot of great bands that I got to see for the very first time, on top of getting to see We Came As Romans. It was a great night with a great lineup and I hope to see every single one of these bands back at the Worcester Palladium very soon.

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Post and photos by Karen Shalev

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