PUMPKINROT.COM: The Blog: dance with the dead

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Concert: Das Mörtal, Dance With The Dead, And Magic Sword

My first blog post about Dance with the Dead was back in 2014. I've been a huge fan ever since. And I certainly never really thought I'd see them in concert. Prior to seeing John Carpenter live in 2016 (which was more of a sit-down theater event), I hadn't been to a concert since the late 90's, when I had the chance to see Juno Reactor in Philadelphia.

Last night's concert was at Underground Arts, a small venue with the perfect atmosphere for something like this. Every location and angle in the joint was a great spot, and we happened to get there early, so we found a table off to the right of the stage that had a terrific view. So we stayed there for the opening act Das Mörtal and for Dance with the Dead, but moved towards the back of the place for Magic Sword. And that proved to be the best decision as I had no idea Magic Sword was such a visual band. Three hooded guys (assumption) with glowing visors and an actual illuminated magic (assumption) sword, which would be raised like He-Man's. The crowd, and us, went nuts every time.

The opening act of Das Mörtal turned out to be incredible. I was unfamiliar with this guy and it was the perfect way to get the crowd excited. I recall sitting painfully through the opening act for Juno Reactor. And I think I just assumed that all opening acts were necessary evils. But when Das Mörtal finished his set, we were bummed.

But then it happened. Dance with the Dead came out and began. And it was glorious. Like TRULY glorious. I'm a huge fan of their lighter stuff (like their song Oracle), but they played their heavier stuff last night, and I have no complaints at all. None. At one point I became aware of the fabric of my shirt vibrating from the giant speaker nearby. Glorious.

So they played their amazing set, with a ton of songs I didn't even recognize. The crowd went crazy during every single note. And then it was over, and they disappeared off stage. We all went nuts again. This, we were convinced, would be the moment where the crowd demanded an encore (are encores even a thing anymore? [John Carpenter did an encore]). But then the crew started taking apart the equipment, and we knew Dance with the Dead wasn't coming back. So they start playing some house music and the lights come back on, so we got up and moved around to check the place out and get some more drinks (this was a common theme [the drinks part]).

So we see some movement up front and the lights go dark. We are dead center in the back of the place, leaning comfortably against the back control booth. With our drinks. Then Magic Sword appears. I posted one blog entry featuring their music, back in 2017, so I wasn't extremely familiar with their work. I knew I liked their sound back then, but wasn't expecting the visuals of the hooded figures. The band members consist of The Keeper (mask illuminated in red; keyboard, audio-visual), The Seer (mask illuminated in blue; guitar), and The Weaver (mask illuminated in yellow; drums) (Thanks, Wikipedia).

Cloaked characters, playing synthwave, with neon strips of light peering out from black hoods; all three Knights from a Digital Medieval Age (I made that up). Now I don't know if it was the spirits, or their music, or the fact that I'm a theatrical guy and was in heaven witnessing this, but Magic Sword is my new favorite thing as of tonight.