On Tuesday, February 4th, Rise Against was back at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg. It’s been well over a decade since they last played at this venue while rocking in the bigger venues of The Netherlands. Fans were happy to see them again and sold the show out. Their line-up was accompanied by Spiritual Cramp and L.S. Dunes.
Just thirty minutes after doors it was time for the first band of the evening: Spiritual Cramp from San Francisco, California. With six members the stage was filled well, but left enough space for all the members to show off their high energy and excitement to play. The venue was already filling up nicely and the band was ready to warm everyone up. Their music was a great mix of genres between rock and punk and one thing was sure: it was impossible not to move along to their music. Auxiliary percussionist Jose Luna stepped to the front with his tambourine, rocking out with his instrument. “I know I look like an asshole, but we are so grateful to be here and for everyone who showed up early to watch our band” is what vocalist Michael Bingham said before kicking into the last song of the evening.
Next up were L.S. Dunes, an American supergroup brought together by members from My Chemical Romance, Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria and Thursday. While the band on its own hasn’t been around that long, came together in 2020 and live debuted in 2022, the members on their own have been in the scene for way longer. This was especially noticeable in vocalist Anthony Green’s stage presence and interactions with the audience. “This is a rock ‘n’ roll dance song” is how Green introduced the song ‘Benadryl Subreddit’. There were quite a few fans of the band in the crowd, who were yelling along with the lyrics to the songs. Their set was just 40 minutes, but after that, the audience was left wanting more from them. The band themselves enjoyed the show, but also were ready to watch Rise Against that evening: “We only got a few songs left and then we will join you in rocking to Rise Against” said Green.
At 9.30 PM the lights dimmed down for the last time tonight, letting the crowd know it was finally time for Rise Against to make their way to the stage. We all know how important it is to end a set with a great song, but Rise Against also made sure their first song of the night was a fan favourite. ‘Satellite’ was played first, with the fans screaming along to the lyrics from the first second. Vocalist and guitarist Tim McIlrath brought out a megaphone to chant a part of the lyrics into. Mcllrath’s mic stand and guitar were put away for ‘Give It All’, giving him the room to move and jump around the whole stage. Near the end of the song, Mcllrath jumped off the stage to stand on the barricade and sing even closer to the fans.
A fan in the front row was holding up a sign, saying this show was her 96th Rise Against concert. When Mcllrath read it he first read it as 9th and was commenting on how that was impressive, but when looked again and saw the actual number he was even more impressed, joking with his bandmates that it was their 96th show as well.
About halfway through the show it was time to slow it down a bit and the electric guitar was switched out for an acoustic one. Tonight’s crowd was treated to ‘People Live Here’ and of course ‘Swing Life Away’. Before getting into ‘People Live Here’ Mcllrath explained how anytime the world goes to shit, he thinks of this song. It reminds him of why we exist and why we all connect. No language, flag or border makes a difference and we are all the same. Being on tour in Europe reminded them that America is just one country in the world. “I’m going to keep fighting for the future” is what he said before getting into the song.
Just a few weeks ago the band released their new song, ‘Nod’, so naturally that song made its way into the setlist. While the fans hadn’t had that much time to learn all the lyrics, everyone was enjoying it. Near the end of ‘Prayer of the Refugee’ a fan gave a Dutch flag to Mcllrath, who put it on his mic stand for the remainder of the song. The band left the stage and after a few minutes of chants we got three more songs in the encore: ‘Audience of One’, ‘Black Masks & Gasoline’ and ‘Savior’. The crowd surfers kept on coming, being caught by the security who had done an incredible job the whole evening. “This might be my favourite show of the tour so far, I think it’s sold out, so thank you for filling out the room,” said Mcllrath. The last song of the evening, ‘Savior’, got dedicated to the queer community, because they put up with so much bullshit, so this one is for those who dream of a better tomorrow; “We have fought this shit before, we will fight this shit again,” said Mcllrath. The whole venue was jumping, moshing and screaming along to the lyrics.
