Wage War was set to take the stage at the Harbour Event Center in Vancouver with Zero 9:35 and Avoid for their first day on a Canadian tour. Originally, they were also going to be joined by Within Destruction, but due to unforeseen circumstances and the fickle nature of Visas being processed were no longer able to be a part of the tour. While I am fortunate enough to currently be in Vancouver and experience a vibrant amount of shows, I know for everyone who I attended shows within central Canada that seeing Wage War put some proper Canadian dates on their tour was something met with enthusiasm.
AVOID
While I had seen Avoid preform at some DIY venues many years ago, that was before my time in Vancouver. I was surprised that for a Seattle based band that this would be their first time performing in Vancouver. And with Wage War? A particularly good first time to come through in my opinion. The package tour production was impressive with large screens behind the drum riser and surrounding the stage. For the openers, only the main screen behind the drum was used. For Avoid they opted to put a loop of Mr Beast with variations of red and grey gradient layers over top of it. It was had this strange juxtaposition that was light and yet still had a little bit of that unsettling nature that you expect from a heavy show.
Even if you were unfamiliar with Avoids hard hitting chaotic sound, they will leave an impression on you from their sincere energy and love of crowd engagement. Being an opening band on the bill, they knew that they were the ones that had to get the crowd engaged and warmed up. Any time there was an opportunity they made sure to do that pulling out all of the stops: the full room in a circle pit, directing everyone to crouch on the ground, and of course a wall of death. Their vocalist jumped into the pit and onto the barricade getting right into the faces of a few particularly stoked fans on the barricade as they screamed the lyrics back at him.
With the energy and atmosphere that Avoid projected, I was actually surprised when they waved off to the crowd signing off their time on stage. It could have been so easy to watch them for several more songs, but the night had to move forward and being Zero9:36 to the stage.
ZERO9:36
The sole member for Zero9:36, Matthew Cullen, crossed the stage reciting his spoken word. His presence was domineering, holding the attention of the room where everyone was quiet in that moment until a guitarist and a drummer made their way over to their instruments. When the full band kicked in that’s when there was a huge motion of arms and hair waving around to the groove of Zero9:36’s music.
WAGE WAR
While standing in the crowd, I overheard a few people talking about their excitement in anticipation of Wage War. This was the first show that they were going to since before the pandemic had taken over. They spoke with such sincerity of not wanting to take the moment of it all for granted. What a show to be their first coming into the space of music.
Leading into the main event, “She’s A Maniac” by Flashdance is played over the monitors. This nod acted as a perfect juxtaposition to what was about to be experienced and was a great amp-up for the crowd since there are few people who wouldn’t be familiar with this song. At its end, there was a looming bass that took over and a voice that spoke through the proper introduction to “Relapse.” Though the production had been physically present for the entirety of the package’s performance, only the main screen had been on for each artist’s banner replacement. With Wage War, each screen was on, the light movers were rolling and active, and there was a consistent stream of strobes and haze. Wage War’s emblem flashed across the vertical screens, in between pieces of static and fluidly blurred images.
Vocalist, Britson Bond, commanded the stage standing up on the risers, looking directly into the crowd, and making sure to pay attention to each side of the stage. Bodies had their arms flung over the barricade and moved like a sea. There was this surreal atmosphere with the flashing strobes, and the waves of hair and arms moving along that juxtaposed with the heavier instrumentation. In the softer vocals delivered by Cody Quistad, there would be a pause in the sea that would turn into desperate faces singing along. This was especially noticeable in tracks such as “Circle the Drain.” It was a pleasure to see this response for a tour that is specific to the release of Maniac as a record. The majority of the setlist visited tracks from this latest record with sprinkles of earlier releases throughout.
Wage War has a presence that demands captivation from stadium venues, especially with how huge their sound is at the back of the room mixed with the production that they add to their performances. The last time that they visited Vancouver was the previous year's opening for Slipknot, and while I had been unable to attend that particular event, I can see an influence from that particular tour. For the Canadians that are still anticipating Wage War’s show in the East, prepare yourself for an experience no matter where you are standing in the room.
