By Jase Walker
We had a brief moment of summer which has been quickly broken up by the traditional massive storm following it but thankfully wasn’t serious enough to mess up my trip to Utrecht for tonight’s show. Hot off the back of their tour with Nothing More last year, Solence are back on the road for their own headliner run and have the lovely lot in Dream State in tow as main support along with Written By Wolves.
Back up to the dizzying heights of Tivoli Vredenburg’s Pandora stage all the way at the top of the building (almost), it’s going to be a loud Sunday night to tie this week off. As I walk into the stage area, I’m first taken back by the stage being absolutely rammed with pillar lights and I’m wondering maybe if this is a show I should have brought sunglasses for. Either way it’s pretty clear Solence takes their stage production seriously and given their synthy electro streak to their music it’s not surprising they like having a bright show.
It’s always a great sign seeing the venue looking pretty damn busy by the time the first act starts. Opening things up with playing the ‘Stranger Things’ theme along with pulsing red lights so I suppose it’s not just Solence getting to play with the fancy pants lighting tonight then!
I gotta admit for an opener, Written By Wolves are getting stuck into the show with energy befitting an act that is running the headliner slot, great stuff. I’ve seen the name before but never quite got round to giving them a listen but this is absolutely up my street with the pop infused metal that reminds me of the likes of Normandie.
I’m genuinely blown away by this sort of balls to the wall force right out the gates, the bands going wild and the crowd is already properly into it too, this isn’t a warmup this is its own beast entirely. It’s not just the band that’s absolutely slaying this performance though, the sound and lighting engineers are adding so much to the experience too.
Openers often always get a solid shake for lighting but whoever is doing it for them tonight clearly gives a proper shit about this and the experience of the show is on another level as a result. Their singer’s got a pretty fantastic range on his voice too, those highs he’s capable of are pretty nuts and carrying that live is no small feat. This performance has been a proper masterclass in how to leave an impact with an incredible performance that has zero pretense other than “let’s have a fucking great time”.
No fears about diving into the audience to drive the party vibe all the way home, their singer properly loves doing this and it is fully written all over his face. I wasn’t expecting a Linkin Park cover of ‘Papercut’ either and they took the risk of putting their own spin on it and clearly it was worth it considering how well it connected with the audience. Genuinely incredible performance to get tonight started on the right foot.
Seems the majority of those pillar lights were just for Written By Wolves as the space on the stage frees up a bit for Dream State to take their place on it. They aren’t a band that stays still much so plenty of room to bounce around now! They aren’t messing around with going straight for the jugular right from the start with Jessie unleashing an insane scream right at the start and making her presence known.
She’s not forgotten about the Utrecht signature “U” handshake either and enthusiastically waves her hand around in that shape and gets a solid response. Dream State just get better and better every time I get to see them and while the support slot means they can’t quite craft their perfect set, they’re no doubt going for the all killer, no filler approach for this show. This is a band that thrives off just going absolutely nuts on stage fully knowing that the crowd’s going to join in whether they’re long term fans or not.
The crowd fully obeys being told to split the room up for a good old fashioned wall of death and people are properly engaged by this point. Jessie is also fully loving getting people to do the signature U handshape for Utrecht, honestly, it’s a thing, don’t ask, just shout “Uuuuuu!”.
Dream State are leading this set hard with their newest singles, ‘Bloom’, ‘Bittersweet Scars Of My Heart’ and ‘Words Unsaid’, the last of which hits proper hard with it’s thumpy rhythm and fat bass. The band doesn’t even need to provoke the crowd for a pit with it either, people are losing their minds and then, uhhh, doing the macarena..!? The crowd responded back to the band asking who knew Dream State prior to this and the overwhelming amount said they didn’t but given the reaction to their set I don’t think they’ll be forgetting Dream State in a hurry.
It’s pretty bloody obvious that these lot have won over a ton of new fans in tonight’s show. You’d think they’d be knackered by this point into such a long tour but you wouldn’t know it from the way they’ve put everything into their performance tonight. Genuinely upping the ante with every show, each time I catch them there’s something new or made even better and considering how they’ve done the past times they’ve come through the Netherlands, I can see they’ll be making another jump in their headliner size. Dream State put in so much work and it shows every time.
And as a bit of Swedish humour, Solence use ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ as an intro track, because, Sweden. The quick stage tech light flash indicates that it’s time to kick things off for, as Solence calls it, GOOD F*CKING MUSIC. “This is not a performance, this is controlled chaos” booms out over the PA, the hype levels build for the band to walk on as the stage lights up with super bright flashing lights, it’s party time!
Considering the way this show has started, there’s little wonder that they’ve had comparisons made to Electric Callboy with this sort of energy and rave vibe they’re rolling with. The crowd’s going wild right from the start too, the now packed room all has their hands in the air while screaming the words back to the band and often coming close to matching them in volume, mental.
I’m already having one of those moments where I feel like I’ve somehow joined a niche that I never knew existed before. I’ve known about Solence for a while and listened to them a bit but the live experience so far? Fucking hell. This is just straight up good fun, a massive party with riffs and catchy dance music melodies and earworm lyrics that are easy to latch onto.
Every now and then I’ll see a band that’s already hit their stride with headliners far outside of their home countries and I wonder which particular crevice of my own backside my head was lodged in when I somehow missed them. This experience is absolutely ridiculous in the best way. I’m dancing along as much as I can with my mouth almost constantly agape in amazement while trying to take in as much of this as possible. These are going to be on my heavy playlist rotation for a considerable time after this show because I am sure as hell not turning up to the next show without knowing all the words to their entire back catalogue.
A moshpit call has a little nod towards electric callboy too so they’re not totally unaware of their similarities I guess but that’s a lovely little reference to do. One musical influence that pops up a bit stronger towards the end of the set is some strong Slipknot vibes with palm muted chugs while the drums go ham on four to the floor type beats, somewhat blindsiding me when I’ve been so caught up in the rave elements.
Crowd surfers finally start coming through thick and fast as they get to ‘Blood Sweat Tears’ and their guitarist is a good sport with making sure everyone gets a fist bump or high five by the time they jump back off the stage. I don’t feel like the band is on high guard with people getting on stage and feels naturally just part of the whole party feeling of the show.
It wouldn’t be a headliner show without at least one small drum solo whacked in their for good measure, getting the crowd going with bashing the fuck out of the toms is a sure-fire way to get people amped up for an Imagine Dragons cover of ‘Warriors’. One lad did take it a bit too far with sticking around on the stage trying to give people directions before getting a brief telling off by what I guess is the tour manager. The lights shift to a police light for the finale encore of ‘Who you gonna call? (Solence)’ which turns the party rave vibe all the way up to a 11 to drive home the last part of the show.
Genuinely absolutely immense, I am legitimately never missing another chance to see Solence live ever again. All three bands absolutely killed it, two of which are now added to my “holy shit these are awesome” list in addition to Dream State. What a mental evening, amazing.