Article and Photos by: Kyla Hosoda

Las Vegas, NV — Swancore was the theme of the night as Dance Gavin Dance swung by the Brooklyn Bowl, in continuing support of their most recent release, Artificial Selection. Accompanying the Sacramento based post-hardcore outfit was the djent juggernauts Periphery supporting their new LP Hail Stan, as well as fellow California natives Hail the Sun and Covet, and additional support by UK based rockers Don Broco.

By the time Periphery took the stage and launched into “The Bad Thing,” the crowd was ready for the oncoming sonic onslaught. Three separate mosh pits opened almost instantly, and the floor shook so violently from hundreds of fans jumping in tandem that you could still feel the vibrations standing outside the venue. Periphery proceeded to charge through several of their hits through their career, with Spencer leading the crowd in singing along, at one even mentioning that his voice was sore, yet not letting it affect his stage presence. The set came to a head when during the second to last song, “Blood Eagle” off Hail Stan, suddenly a young man in a wheelchair emerged from the middle of the pit, crowd surfing his way up to the stage (much to the chagrin of venue security) and the crowd went insane and cheered him on. Spencer took a second to high five the man, and finished the song shortly after.

Finally, it was time for the main event, Dance Gavin Dance. As soon as Will Swan began the opening riff to “Son of Robot”, the floor was once again popping, several random push pits opening up across the floor. After running through several tracks from the current era of DGD, including the groovy, psychedelic fan favorites “Summertime Gladness” and “Count Bassy”, as well as the crowd pleasing “Flossie Dickey Bounce”, Tilian announced to the crowd that they were going to play a deep cut, in the form of the Kurt Travis song, “Uneasy Hearts Weigh The Most”. Finally, it was time for the night to wrap, but Dance Gavin Dance still had one more in them, coming back to play a rousing encore of “Evaporate.”

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