The infectious alt-pop trio, Dreamers, closed out their headlining tour in the heart of Los Angeles at the El Rey Theatre on Friday, December 6th. The bill for the night was packed with talent, with support from the two alternative up-and-comers, American Teeth and Arrested Youth. As soon as I arrived I could feel the excitement consume the venue as fans all around me eagerly waited for the set times to arrive.
American Teeth was the first to hit the stage and started the show off with a bang, immediately having the crowd dancing and jumping to the beat. His personalized alternative style was a hit and he engaged the audience with ease. In the middle of his set, he had the crowd sing along with him as he performed “Paper Planes” by M.I.A. but with his own twist, changing the chorus lyrics to, “Fuck you too”. Healsoperformed some of his own hits including his latest release “2late” and the 2019 single “Chemicals”. His set left the crowd in high spirits and ready for the other bands to come.
After American Teeth’s electric performance Arrested Youth took the stage. Arrested Youth capitalized on the energy of the fans and exploded onto the stage wearing a black hockey mask to perform his first song “Sob Story”. His fan base was strong in the crowd, with many wearing his merch, screaming the lyrics, and cheering when guitarist, Aaron Shadrow, played his insane riffs. The man behind Arrested Youth as well as lead vocalist, Ian Johnson, thanked everyone for coming out and boasted about how happy they were to have been on such an incredible tour with Dreamers. He then went on to play some other fan favorites such as “Riot!” off his debut album Fear. Arrested Youth’s style of rock meets hip hop and kinetic performance was a pleasure to be able to see live.
Dreamers took the stage around 9:40pm, and opened their set with the upbeat yet sad song “Screws”. The crowd was singing along with the teal-haired frontman, Nick Wold, and the girl behind me was even giving us all an air-guitar show. The entertainment only skyrocketed from there as Dreamers fell into their next song and the crowd continued to get more animated. The setlist was stacked with hit after hit, including “Drugs”, “Dizzy”, and their newest single “Desensitize” which the venue raved over. One of the greatest surprises of the show was when the band covered Radiohead’s “Karma Police” which was an epic sing along for the audience and a special moment.To conclude the show Dreamers played their highly acclaimed “Die Happy” off of their 2019 album LAUNCH FLY LAND and every person in the building was dancing together. Nick even jumped into the crowd for a lengthy crowd surf before running off the stage. The band came back for a two song encore of “Wolves (You Got Me)” and “Sweet Disaster”. The show ended with an insane amount of energy and quite literally burnt the house down, with the fire alarm going off during “Sweet Disaster”.
Dreamers ended their Die Happy tour on an incredibly high note, and experiencing it from the crowd was nothing short of a dream. It’s not every day that you can find a band whose live show sounds just like the record and who can keep a crowd dancing all night. Although this might’ve been my first Dreamers show, it absolutely won’t be my last. I can’t wait to see where they go from here!
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Dreamers
American Teeth
Arrested Youth
BY: Aubree Estrella | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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