Alright! Time for the second installment of this concert review barrage I’m subjecting you all to. This Saturday night was spent at The Sinclair in Cambridge, one of the better venues around the city, taking in Leprous on their Melodies of Atonement tour. Fight The Fight kicked off the evening, with The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die providing direct support as a late add to the tour. But more on that later. Let’s just get into it. You don’t need more of an intro than that.

For the sake of filling in the timeline, what did my Saturday look like before heading over to Cambridge? Well, it didn’t suck! I woke up in the Braintree hotel and immediately got to work picking through images from the Dozer show the night before. That setting served as my office until, yes, Widowmaker opened at noon. And then that served as my office until it was time to check into my Cambridge hotel a few hours later. Fun! Once I got to Cambridge, however, I immediately worked my way toward Harvard Square and The Sinclair. I had my fill of screen time at that point and this happens to be one of the better areas in Boston/Cambridge (wait… Harvard is?! Shocking, I know). It was awesome just having a few hours to hang out in the action before the show.

As for the show itself, I’m actually going to work backwards and start with some thoughts on the Leprous set. I had only seen Leprous once before, at the Brighton Music Hall headlining for The Ocean a couple of years back. A very different experience. No knock on the BMH. For a venue that comes across a little, uh, less polished, every artist I’ve seen perform there has sounded GREAT. But it’s a venue that can also only offer so much in terms of a visual experience (stage lighting and whatnot), whereas The Sinclair’s infrastructure is simply up a few levels. And yeah, I’ll call a spade a spade – that 2022 show was really all about The Ocean for me. There simply was no following up their set that night, no matter who it was. This night at The Sinclair, however, felt closer to what a Leprous show should be. It might go without saying for those familiar, but they just sounded so tight. It truly amazes me how they can take their ridiculously complex and intricate style and translate it live in a way that sounds even better. I don’t get it, but the good news is that I don’t need to! With a bigger stage and better lighting, it was also pretty spectacular visually. Worth noting that the place was packed, which only enhanced all these elements.

Considering all of that, there were a couple of moments that really stood out to me specifically. First, the performance of “Faceless” with the fan choir was really cool to witness. For those who missed it, Leprous called for submissions of fans singing the closing lines to the track from the new album. The reason for it? Selected individuals were asked to help perform the song on stage throughout the tour, depending on their region. It sounded great, but what stood out to me was just how enjoyable the experience was for everyone. You could see it in the eyes of the fans pulled on stage, their smiles, and the interaction and engagement from the entire band once the song wrapped up. Just a really unique, positive moment. The second detail I’ll call out is the fan voted encore. A seemingly small detail, but a way to make each stop on the tour feel like a standalone experience (not to mention how impressive it is to perform any number of tracks in their catalog basically on demand). It was an awesome set, and one that was engaging and just… fun to take in from beginning to end.

And yes, that is how the concert ended! What about how it started? Fight The Fight and TWIABP. The former a progressive metalcore project with an industrial flare and tons of bite, and the latter an airy indie rock/post-rock entity that stepped in for Monuments for a portion of this run. Neither of those styles are necessarily my cup. That said, experiencing them alongside each other, and the various forms of energy that were thrown on The Sinclair audience as a result, resonated in a good way. The intensity of Fight The Fight, in sight and sound, was an immediate energy injection for the venue. Nobody (ok fine, maybe not nobody) wants a slow build in a show. I prefer a little fire right out of the gate to match the anticipation. Fight The Fight delivered there. But at the same time TWIABP created the perfect balancing act. Their atmosphere was massive, but there was also room to breathe within it. To breathe it in. It was more of a consistent, relaxed yet elevated presence shared across the room. The energy was brought down a few levels, for sure, but we still settled at a noticeable height regardless. This show was exhilarating, a direct result of how the three bands overlapped, sure, but especially how they diverted from each other. The result was a captivating night from start to finish across all three performance. No moments felt drawn-out. Every moment was locked in.

So that takes care of show number two! The Sinclair came through again. It was an awesome blend of styles, everything sounded great regardless of where you were posted up on the floor or in the balcony, and the performances were equally as engaging visually. Yeah, it was a long day and night. Actually, a really long night when I finally did shut it down. But one that was totally worth it. Oh, and real quick: Full disclosure that the final installment in this series might take me a little longer roll out with some travel on the horizon. Stay tuned.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb