Over the past decade, American rock band Against The Current has made quite a few appearances across different stages in the Netherlands. On the 12th of March, the band played a show at Melkweg’s Oude Zaal, a room they haven’t visited since 2018, in celebration of the band’s fifteenth anniversary. As this intimate tour was meant to highlight the band’s career, they decided not to take a support act with them, so they could play as many songs from their discography as possible.
Doors to the venue opened at 19:30, with fans rushing in immediately to get close to the stage. The room was shivering with anticipation in the hour before the band would take to the stage. As the intro started playing over the speakers a little after 20:30, the band members walked on one by one. The three-piece, consisting of vocalist Chrissy Constanza, guitarist Dan Gow, and drummer Will Ferri, was joined by touring bassist David Whitmore. They dove right into the first two songs on tonight’s setlist, namely ‘Talk’ and ‘‘’good guy”’. “It’s so good to be back,” Constanza said afterwards. “I don’t like to pick favourites, but…we always have a good time here.” The vocalist also spoke about them being here tonight for a very special reason, referencing the band’s anniversary and mentioning that it makes them feel “very old” knowing they’ve already been a band for so long. The band then continued with ‘Paralyzed’, with the crowd loudly singing along when Constanza held out her microphone towards the crowd, and ‘Wild Things’.
Constanza then mentioned that the band has been through many eras, having released EPs and albums on a major record label. However, this really wasn’t what it seemed to be, and so they were excited when they escaped the contract. The next song, ‘blindfolded’, was the “first song [they] released when [they] got their freedom back”. To show their support, the fans held up coloured pieces of paper in front of their phone flashlights, lighting up the entire room in blue and red. After this emotional moment, Constanza had to check her setlist as a new tour means a new setlist, and she wasn’t familiar with it just yet, considering this was only the second show. As she was telling this story and talking more about the anniversary, she got distracted by someone handing her a bag filled with handmade bracelets for her to pick from. She got distracted again when someone shouted they’ve been following the band since they were six years old. “Stop, that’s bullying!” Constanza responded. Throughout the show, more jokes were made about the band’s age, despite them only being in their thirties. The show continued with ‘again&again’ and ‘Blood Like Gasoline’. Constanza mentioned that the members of their Discord channel helped to get the latter on the setlist, so they had to really sing along. This was followed by ‘Another You (Another Way)’ and ‘Voices’ before the band would play one of Constanza’s favourite tracks to play live, ‘Wasteland’. “Amsterdam, how are you feeling?” she shouted out right before the song kicked off, which led to loud cheers.
It was then time for a small acoustic set. Stools were set on stage by the crew, so Gow and Ferri could take a seat. For the next two songs, Ferri would not be drumming, but rather would be playing the guitar instead. Constanza explained how, for these shows, they wanted to “play as many older songs as we could”, starting this section with “one of the songs [Constanza] has tattoos for”, ‘Infinity’. The second acoustic song played was ‘Fireproof’. While the stools were quickly removed, the band couldn’t immediately get back to the high-energy stuff, as someone in the crowd needed help. Constanza filled the time by talking to a fan about a plushie of a Poro they’d put on the stage, and she received a League of Legends blind box to open. Some fans seemed even more excited about this moment than about the actual music, seemingly eager to nerd out with their favourite band.
As soon as it was possible to get the show going again, Against The Current continued with a few tracks from the EP fever: ‘that won’t save us’, ‘jump’, and ‘lullaby’. Constanza constantly ran around the stage, hyping up the crowd to jump, dance, and scream along with her. She and her bandmates were clearly having fun. Before playing ‘Chasing Ghosts’, guitarist Gow had licked a guitar pick and tried to stick it to Constanza’s forehead, to which she loudly declared “ew!”. It was evident from moments such as these that the three of them were clearly good friends – they’ve been playing together since they were just fifteen years old after all. After ‘Chasing Ghosts’, the band continued with ‘Gravity’, with Constanza telling the people on the balcony that this would be the moment to prove themselves, as they would surely know the words to this track. Another song they and the rest of the audience should know the words to was ‘Outsiders’. Constanza jokingly stated how the fans “have been asking [them] to play this in the set for so many tours and [they] never do it because [they] suck”, but now, it was finally time for the track to get its moment in the spotlight. The cheers were indeed very loud as the first notes kicked in, the crowd eager to prove they were grateful for it to be played.
Finally, only three songs were left to be played. First off was ‘Wildfire’, followed by the League of Legends song ‘Legends Never Die’, another fan-favourite. Last but not least, the band ended their set with ‘weapon’ and for the first and only time tonight, a crowdsurfer made it onto the stage, ending the show on a high note. Tonight, Against The Current really proved how many bangers they have in their discography and how lovely a relationship they have with their fans. Their next album is already in the works, and another, longer tour will probably take place very soon. So, for those who have had to miss out on these intimate shows, don’t fret: Against The Current will be back.
