


Clearly Adept are set on redeeming their late arrival with all the energy they have left in them, which naturally translates to a rather frantic presence on stage, but unfortunately four songs simply isn't going to cut it as a performance to remember.ĭance Gavin Dance, too, is a band that TL likes to advertise and make reference to wherever he can. In fact, this is probably the only song anyone in the crowd recognizes judging from a complete lack of sing-along for even the ridiculously catchy "At Least Give Me My Dreams Back, You Negligent Whore!" Still, the brief bout of unadulterated fury leaves no one cold, and we are left wanting more. Initial reception is penurious, but as "Shark! Shark! Shark!" explodes from the speakers, the crowd warms up to Adept's poppy brand of screamo. The good news is that we made it and we're going to play some songs for you!" The bad news is that Adept have all of 15 minutes to play them – meaning four songs. This has been the most stressful day of my life. Not five minutes later vocalist Robert exclaims, "Thank you for waiting. After 45 minutes the suspense starts to turn into disappointment, as the 23:00 curfew makes it unlikely that Adept have time to pull off a performance even if they do show up.īut lo and behold, Dance Gavin Dance's stage setup is suddenly torn down with unprecedented haste as Adept's musicians rush on stage one by one to tune their instruments in what must be the quickest display of setting up I have ever borne witness to. But as time drags on and Adept are nowhere to be seen, the crowd grows impatient and chatter turns to speculation that the band has canceled their performance tonight due to some unforeseen circumstance. Having listened to fellow scribe TL praise this band to the skies both live and on record, I have anxiously been looking forward to checking the band out. It was absolutely paramount that this show would color TL green when I would later rub it in his face, and hope was dwindling. The smug righteousness I would have to endure from TL if anything about this night went wrong felt like an unbearable, and suddenly not so distant prospect when I noticed that Adept's merchandise was not there, and neither was their fucking tour van, or even the band for that matter.

This cold Wednesday evening dangled on the verge of disaster when it seemed as though the only reason I had showed up was about to be exterminated.
