We Came As Romans play smaller, steamy Florida music hall, heat not stopping this band!
We Came as Romans announced their tour coming through Florida and I along with many others were super ready. The tour dates included: Sun, SEP 18. at The Andrew J Brady Music Center, Cincinnati, OH; Wed, SEP 21. 1904 Music Hall. Jacksonville, FL as well as several other dates. I was lucky enough to attend the Jacksonville, Fl date at 1904 Music Hall. This show was about to blow my mind as well as many others more than we could even have imagined. Upon entering the venue, I saw to my left merch setup and fans starting to crowd the front of the stage almost an hour ahead of the show. 1904 Music Hall is a smaller venue known to bring groups of people together for shows in a very intimate setting. No barricade, no over the top over done lighting, just pure magic of stage presence and crowd interaction. If you want to feel the energy all around you, and major potential for band sweat raining down on you, attend a show at 1904 Music Hall.
WCAR were playing alongside Royal Hearts and Lost Trees. The openers put on such an incredible show. That was my first time seeing both Royal Hearts and Lost Trees live, and they did not disappoint. I could see why they were performing with We Came as Romans. The Simplicity of this venue’s setup I believe really sold the vibe of this show. No banners, no backdrops, just all the simple necessities for a band to put on one of the most crowd electrifying performances I have seen in years. At first, I was very surprised to not see a We Came as Romans banner hanging up. I was also surprised to see one merch table housing every band’s merch. This felt almost like a throwback to older venues and shows from years ago. We see so many shows today that rely on pyro, confetti, streamers, and full stage setups to give an audience a vibe. That’s something I really respect about 1904 Music Hall and We Came as Romans. All they simply needed to do was go on stage and give these fans exactly what they were paying to see, them. One amazing show.
I along with all the others in attendance were battling the heat inside the venue throughout the show. My camera as well as concertgoers’ glasses were fogging up the entire show. It had to be at least 75 degrees inside at the time of We Came as Romans performance, and to tell you the truth, I don’t think anyone even noticed once this band was on stage. I could also see that We Came as Roman’s main Photographer, Paxton Powell was also having a harder time battling the steam and heat radiating inside the venue to capture content. Maybe it was just time to put out equipment down and enjoy the ride that WCAR were taking us all on.
The band started off the show by playing some newer and not as frequently played songs such as “Darkbloom”, “Wasted Age”, “Daggers”, and “Plagued”. Next up on their setlist were some classics for the band. Some throwbacks that were sure to get the crowd going wild. The band played “Hope”, in dedication to their late bandmate, Kyle Pavone. Other songs that were performed by WCAR were, “Tracing Back Roots”, “Cold Like War”, “Learning to Survive”, and “Lost In The Moment”. We Came as Romans came back out to encore with the song, “Black Hole”, off of their album Black Hole which features the vocals of Caleb Shomo of Beartooth. The second encore song the band left it up to the fans and fans choice. David Stephens, lead vocalist told the crowd to go and vote for their choice of song to be performed that night. I love the crowd participation that bands have recently been encouraging others to also take part in. I recently attended a Silverstein show where they brought out a wheel of songs that crew, friends, and family were able to spin to choose the next songs on their setlist. Bands are starting to really include their fans and crew to get more involved in the creative process and feel more like they are a part of the experience and I believe that is a great way to really give those that listen to their music a way to grow to love their music more as well as make them have an outstanding time.
We Came as Romans as well as their fans were not expecting to have to encounter some terrible weather approaching but unfortunately the band would have to face Hurricane Ian this past weekend and would have to cancel their shows with Architects and Like Moths to Flame at Jannus Live, in St. Petersburg FL on Oct. 1st, Granada Theater, Dallas TX on Oct. 3rd, The Aztec Theatre in San Antonio, TX on Oct. 4th, Marquee Theatre in Tempe, AZ on Oct. 6th, The Novo in Los Angeles, CA, and Marquis Theater in Denver, CO on Oct. 9th. Upcoming shows for the band include: (tickets can be found here: https://iamdarkbloom.com/pages/tour)
