Article & photos by: Courtney Drake
INDIANAPOLIS, IN—Parking at the Hoosier Dome was scarce by the time fans were finally allowed into the venue; a large number of them were actually forced to park along the street in the nearby neighborhood. Despite the minor inconvenience, the Hoosier Dome’s residential location & basement-like atmosphere gave it a kind of homey feeling.
When the show started with Indiana locals The Day After, it was evident that some people in attendance were already familiar with them. The band seemed to be very comfortable being onstage & their rockin’ attitudes were just what the crowd needed to get warmed up.
Picturesque was second to play, & their set was the one that deviated the most from all the others. I don’t want to say their sound was more mellow or less aggressive than anyone else’s set; in fact it was the exact opposite of both of those things. However, their music does lack the intense screaming that every other band’s has.
The next band, Dayseeker, is when things started to get a little rough. The crowd began pushing forward & climbing up to the stage to hang from the rafters on the ceiling & crowd surf while the band performed heavy songs about personal battles, from sexual assault to cancer to addiction.
The Plot in You was by far the most aggressive set that I have ever witnessed. Not only did people continue to climb up onto the stage & hang from rafters, but there were far more mosh pits, stage divers, & ferocious fans fighting their way to the front of the stage. The first row could hardly even prevent themselves from falling onto the stage & pushing speakers out of place as a result of the aggressiveness, leading to an abundance of bruised knees & thighs. The Plot in You encouraged this type of thing, & that made it even more fun for those choosing to participate.
The Color Morale was a much calmer experience that even those toward the front could enjoy. The fans were so united while jamming out to the set; almost all of them were gathered at center stage with their hands toward Garrett Rapp, screaming his words back to him at the top of their lungs. I’ve never seen a more interactive frontman than him; it was truly difficult to catch him in a moment where he wasn’t on the edge of the crowd holding the mic out to one of the fans & screaming with them. The Color Morale ended the night with Rapp & his guitarist entering the center of the floor among the crowd to perform an acoustic rendition of “Version of Me,” from their 2016 album Desolate Divine, for which the tour was named. Needless to say, tears were shed & nights were made.