Menu

Backstage News, Front Row Pics

Scale The Summit + The Ocean @ The Sinclair, Boston

 2014-03-30-TheOcean-DSC_7013

By Frank Poulin

For the second time in a few short weeks we were fortunate enough to catch the last date of a tour — which always makes for an extra-special show. And with such a stellar line-up, that’s saying a lot!

Unfortunately we could only catch the last couple of songs from openers Silver Snakes (touring in support of their excellent full-length album Year Of The Snake released earlier this month) but we definitely liked what we heard — great energy and a nice way to start the evening.

Next up was The Atlas Moth with a powerful set. This is the second time in a year that we’ve seen these guys live and I can tell you they’re steadily getting better. Can’t wait to hear their new CD, The Old Believer (coming out June 10th).

2014-03-30-ScaleTheSummit-DSC_7768StS and The Ocean were co-headlining this tour and that night The Ocean went on first. They opened with “Epipelagic”, and it soon became clear that they were going to play Pelagial in its glorious entirety! As each song took us deeper and deeper underwater the band was pulling out all the stops, giving us a fantastic show. Atlas Moth frontman Stavros Giannopoulos came out midway through the set for a little battle-of-the-mics action, and at one point singer Loïc Rossetti ran off the stage and up to the mezzanine to sing a bit while sitting on the railing, 20 feet above the audience. After a few minutes, he actually let himself fall backwards into the arms of the crowd below before returning to the stage! Talk about a trust fall…

By the time guitarist Robin Staps closed out the set with the last few bars of the relentlessly heavy “Benthic”, on his knees and hunched over as if physically feeling the ocean’s pressure, I knew I’d just witnessed one of The Ocean’s best performances to date. Everybody was like, “Just… wow!”

And of course, the night wasn’t over — Scale The Summit were up next. I hadn’t seen them live in about 3 years years and I couldn’t believe how much tighter they sound, if that’s even possible. These guys are nothing less than virtuosos. Playing a nice mix of tracks from their catalogue, every note was perfect, every song an absolute treat. Standouts included “Black Hills” and “Narrow Salient”, during which the other bands’ members and crew all burst out on stage and danced around for a while — a fitting send-off for a brilliant show and a memorable tour.

Silver Snakes
The Atlas Moth
The Ocean
Scale The Summit

2 Comments

  1. Drove 9 hours in the rain (and 12 back because of a snowstorm) for this show and it was worth every second!!

    • Hello Remi! Thanks so much for reading the article and for taking the time to Comment ~ we didn’t have quite the same drive (or in such terrible weather!) that you did, but we here at Flashwounds agree ~ that show was pretty much worth whatever it took to get there! Great, great night! All the best, The Flashwounds Team