Photos / Review: In Hearts Wake and Fit For A King with Like Moths To Flames and Phinehas at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts

Who: In Hearts Wake and Fit For A King with Like Moths To Flames, Phinehas

Where: The Palladium, Worcester, Massachusetts

When: November 19, 2017

In Hearts Wake and Fit For A King stopped by the Worcester Palladium at the start of the second week of their double-headlining tour.

Phinehas kicked the show off. The band had just released their album a couple of days prior to the show and played several songs off the new album, which the audience loved. The band was very energetic and seemed to have a great connection with the audience. The place was packed and severel people ran to meet the band members at merch after their set. Overall, I think Phinehas did a great job of kicking the night off.

I was excited for Like Moths To Flames’ set. I especially wanted to see how the songs off their new album, Dark Divine, would sound when they were performed live. The set was high energy from the second they got on stage and the audience went nuts over them. Frontman Chris Roetter did an excellent job connecting with every single person in the audience. The band gave a solid, strong performance that the packed pit and balcony loved. Like Moths To Flames had an already strong and dedicated fan base that grew to include several new audience members after their set. I also have to say that the band genuinely connects with their fans because I saw Chris Roetter at their merch table meeting every last person who wanted to meet him; he did not rush anyone and was genuinely nice to every fan. I will not be surprised to see Like Moths To Flames headlining their own tour very soon.

In Hearts Wake took the earlier headlining set and they were my absolute favorite band of the night. I was a little apprehensive before their set, actually, because I was supposed to have an interview with frontman Jake Taylor which had to be switched to an interview with bassist and clean vocalist Kyle Erich because Taylor was on strict vocal rest; needless to say, I had no clue how the set was going to go, but I was completely taken by surprise; In Hearts Wake gave an incredibly strong performance. Had I not known Taylor was on vocal rest, I never would have suspected that there was an issue with his voice. Erich did pitch in when it came to talking a little bit, but what I loved about their set was that there was a very small amount of talking; it was all about the music. The audience went crazy for them; there were plenty of crowdsurfers and a lot of moshing. Towards the end of the set, they brought out Patchy – an inflatable boat that vocalist Taylor was going to crowdsurf with; Palladium staff would not let Patchy be used due to security concerns, so Taylor crowdsurfed the old-fashioned way. The crowdsurfing had a game though; Taylor had to crowdsurf to the soundstage holding a banana, where a member of their camp was holding an In Hearts Wake flag. The flag would be exchanged for the banana and then Taylor would crowdsurf back. It was a really fun part of their set; it also lightened it up a little bit so that it was not just “metalcore, metalcore, metalcore” for the full set. I will never forget that part of their set and I doubt anyone else in the audience will as well. I will absolutely see In Hearts Wake again and hope that I get to see Patchy in action next time.

Fit For A King closed out the night. While I had never seen Fit For A King before, I have heard about how energetic their sets and I was not disappointed. The audience absolutely loved the set. They were still hyped from In Hearts Wake, so when Fit For A King brought the same energy, if not even more, they just went ballistic. Vocalist Ryan Kirby was very charismatic, but bassist Ryan O’Leary was insane, jumping and running all over the stage; I still am not sure how he did all of that on such a small stage, but he was so much fun to watch. I do not think that I would have gone to see them had they not been on this tour, but now I am keeping an eye out for future dates in my area.

Overall, it was a really fun, energetic night of great metalcore bands.

–

Post and photos by Karen Shalev

Did you attend this tour? Comment below.