Angels & Airwaves w/ Bad Suns and 1990nowhere
Seattle, WA, Showbox Sodo
10.03.21
Angels and Airwaves played a sold out show at the Seattle Showbox SoDo on Oct. 3rd 2021 along with Bad Suns and 1990 No Where. The tour was in support for their new album Lifeforms. Their first album in seven years and it is the first album since lead singer Tom Delonge officially shared proof with the world that UFO’s are real. Mission accomplished!
The Lifeforms tour had everything that Angels and Airwaves stands for always inspired space, our existence, personal human connections, and not taking anything too serious while keeping this serious.
The show opened up with three adrenaline filled songs from their new album. Starting with Kiss & Tell, the last song on the album, Lifeforms. Warm bright lights blasted from the back of the stage silhouetting Delong and Co. The atmospheric keyboards and electronic opening of the song transcended the crowd to an outer space. The next two songs, Timebomb and Euphoria, kept everyone suspended by the gravity of the songs. Dummer, Ilan Rubin, Delonge harmonizing beautifully through the whole first three songs. Something Rubin cherished about the opening of the show on this tour.
Singer and guitarists played front and center in the middle of the stage. The rest of the band, David Kennedy on guitar, Rubin on Drums, and Matt Rubano on bass played behind Delonge on a three tiered platform. A dynamic and impressive stage set up but would have been nice to have Kennedy and Rubano closer to the edge of the stage. But Delonge is a master of his craft and able to hold his own at the edge of the stage.
After playing three new songs AVA took everyone on a tour of past universes as they played three songs off previous albums including, Surrender, The Adventure, and Everything’s Magic. By this point in the show it’s been one catchy and punch song after another. With all of the jumping, cheering, and dancing from the crowd they were going to need a song more mellow soon.
Delonge introduced the next song, Tunnels, with a personal story. Delonge shared that he wrote the song after an out of body experience the very moment that his father pasted away. A feeling he felt miles away from his father when he pasted. A feeling inside his body and soul that he had only felt once before when his father’s sibling died when Delonge was young. Delong used the experience to write about what it’s like to die. Something Delonge has always wanted write a song about but had never had an experience to use to write about death without experiencing it himself first hand. A heart felt message to a beautiful song.
The night picked up with two songs from their new album, Rebel Girl and Automatic. Rebel Girl “The song that started it all” was the first song released 2 years ago to promote the new album and was still as beautiful to hear this time as it was the first time.
The night ended with four songs from past albums including War and Heaven to end the night. Two songs missing from their past tour in 2019. A beautiful and new ending to show for all the fans who missed their 2019 tour. With six full albums now there was so much left out from the show but after an hour of beautiful Angles and Airwaves no one will remember what was missed but what was celebrated.
Photos by Logan Westom
Review by Allie Leaf
Angels & Airwaves
Bad Suns
1990nowhere
