I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 21, 2025] L.S. Dunes

My son and I saw L.S. Dunes open for Pierce the Veil back in 2023.  We knew a little about them and then the merch guy told us that we would really like them.  But, as seems  to happen at the Santander Arena, the opening bands are just lost in the acoustics of the place.

So when this show was announced I grabbed tickets assuming that we’d like them a lot more if we could actually hear them.

Perhaps the coolest thing of all was that I won a contest on Instagram which gave me two signed posters from the band (strangely enough, one of this posters is not signed by one of the members, but that’s okay).  It was definitely a cool souvenir.

We missed the opening band Night Sins entirely.  And the place was PACKED.  I felt lucky that I could squeeze into the ADA seating area because if I couldn’t we’d have been crowded even further back.  It was not the ideal location–I really assumed we’d be really close to the stage.  And I was a little bummed to be relatively far from the stage–although I think it would have been way too crowded up front.

However, the crowd was 100% into it and it was kind of fun to be behind the crowd and see all of the fun.

We knew Frank Iero the best in the band (being MCR fans).  I feel like I should have known Anthony Green and Circa Survive, but I didn’t know them at all.  We had seen drummer Tucker Rule and bassist Tim Payne from Thursday, but I didn’t really know at all. We were closest to guitarist Travis Stever who plays in Coheed and Cambria–someone I’ve wanted to see but haven’t.  His soloing was great.

I had listened to the new album once or twice but didn’t really know their music all that well.  But I knew it would be great.  I loved the way Like Magick started slowly with Anthony Green singing over strummed chords and then boom, the song took off.  Fatal Deluxe showed the dichotomy of Green’s vocals–screamed intensity and then quieter very high-pitched vocals.

I love the name of Benadryl Subreddit–shame it’s only a single.  Anthony Green was clearly having a good time.  He bantered with the audience and did this interesting thing where it looked like he was throwing dollar bills at the audience (although he wasn’t holding anything).  He kept swiping his arm over the microphone into the crowd.  I don’t know what it meant, but it was interesting.

For the most part the songs were pretty heavy but there were some with a real groove to them too–along with some great riffs.  And a song like Machines slowed the pace a bit.

They played 8 of 10 songs from their new album and 6 of 11 from their debut–a great mix.  And while the show was relatively short, it didn’t feel short.

Green’s singing/screaming is intense and really brings a real power to the music.  This show definitely made me want to check out his other bands (although I couldn’t manage to see The Sound of Animals Fighting when they came to Philly).

The intensity picked up again (and the crowd was really into it) with You Deserve to Be Haunted.  They ended the set with three songs from their first album and I guess the folks up front really knew them because the crowd surfing really got crazy.  I didn’t really recognize the songs from the previous show but I did recognize 2022, a super catchy song that I was glad to hear live again.

After a short break, they came back out for 2 encore songs from the new album.

It was a great set and only made me want to see them again, next time from right at the stage.

¥ Violet (2025)
∇ single (2023)
♠ Past Lives (2022)