“I stole the moon. I made the stars align. I taught you how to fly, and you made me the bad guy.”

The alternative rock band Set It Off made their way to Denver for a show on their Midnight World Tour. The album “Midnight” was released Feb.1. Set it off performed at the Summit Music Hall in Denver on Feb. 24 for an audience of at least 300 people.

The first opener, Super Whatevr’s set, had a ton of variation to it. At some moments they would play quietly and softly, then the next moment would be full of crash cymbals and guitar riffs. The first song they played was one of my favorites; “Kathrin With a K.” I think most of their songs were pretty touching and emotional. At one point the lead singer of Super Whatvr, Skyler McKee, became very vulnerable in front of the crowd when he spoke about his cousin who took his own life.

“There’s so much I could have done but there’s so much I could do now, given this platform. And there’s so much you could do just by being a human being. Being alive.” McKee said. “You are so important and you matter so much. You are so loved, if anybody tells you otherwise they’re wrong.” It’s little moments like these that make me love shows so much.
After a couple more songs to cheer the crowd up, the next band appeared.

With Confidence, all the way from Australia, was a band comprised of some very young looking musicians. What I really liked about their set was the energy they fed to the crowd. One song in and people were already crowd surfing and forming a small mosh pit. After they left the stage, anticipation started to build even more than before. The energy in the room as we waited for Set It Off became tense and sort of blurry in a way.

The first time I saw Set It Off was at the 2016 Vans Warped Tour. If you don’t know, Warped Tour was a traveling rock music festival that ran from 1995-2018. It was the longest-running and largest traveling music festival in North America. While I was there, I was randomly handed a VIP pass to jump the line of people waiting to meet them. As I talked to them while they signed my poster, I felt a very deep connection forming. Little did I know I’d see them again three years later.

As the audience waited for the band to get on stage, a digital clock was projected onto the screen of the stage. The clock read’ “11:48:25” and started counting up by seconds. The reason they did this was to represent their album, “Midnight.” When the clock finally hit 12:00:00 it flashed and the clock was replaced by the words “Welcome To Midnight.” The set, including the encore, consisted of 24 songs.

Things became a little heavier when singer Cody Carson opened up to the audience to talk about his dad who he lost in 2008 in the introduction to “Unopened Windows.” On an Instagram live stream, Carson explained that the song was sort of part two of one of their previous works from their 2012 studio album Cinematics. In “Dad’s Song” Carson speaks about the loss of his dad to cancer while in “Unopened Windows” he talks about feeling far from his dad and how difficult it can be to get through the pain.

Somewhere around the middle of the set, there was a unique drum solo remix of seven popular songs from the early 2000s to some of today’s current hits. That portion of the show was so incredible to me, as I am a drummer and love to listen to drums, especially if they’re used as a way to remix a song.

Later in the show, for the fans of earlier eras, there was a mashup of eight classic songs. This is when the concert became the most intense. A large space was cleared out on the floor for people to make a giant whirlpool in. This is something I’ve never experienced before and it was incredibly strange, yet so exciting. From there it turned into a familiar mosh pit.
Two songs later, the set ended and the night came to a close. Or so the fans thought. The band appeared back on stage, “I tend to ramble so I’m just gonna do that now.” Carson said. After spending the time to thank venue security, merchandise workers, and the fans, two more classic songs were played.

Overall I think this was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, the show being at my favorite venue ever made the experience even better. Three years ago I never thought I’d be seeing Set It Off again since they had been in the top five bands of the 2016 Warped Tour. Seeing them again was a dream come true.

“I am good. I am evil. I am solace. I am chaos. I am human and that’s all I ever wanted to be.”