After 2023’s tour, speculation was made that may have been the last for Stabbing Westward owing to Lead Sing Christopher Hall’s health issues. However, fear not Stabbies… because the band is stronger than ever! Currently on tour domestically in the USA through the end of November, they stopped at the Granada Theater in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
Looking at the venue for a moment, The Granada was built in 1946 in Lower Greenville, Dallas in the Art Deco style with neon lights, murals, and a capacity of about one thousand as a film house that was converted into a concert hall in 1977, and reopened as such in 2004. With that said, once you get to the theater area, it is not disabled-friendly for wheelchairs if you want to be in the pit. This is unfortunate since the band with support from the Industrial band, ManifestiV, put on a spectacular show.
According to their Bandcamp page, ManifestiV’s bio says Paragraph, guitarist & programmer, joined forces with Lillith, vibraphonist & visual artist, originally out of Vallejo, Cali with Ryan on live drums and mixing and Kevin on live bass, wearing his spiked Black Death mask, during their Dallas shows. They used their instruments in new ways, scoring the imminent end of human civilization with down-tuned guitars & electronic vibraphone hand-built by Lillith, aiming to guide humanity off the earth to explore & build other worlds while possible over their six releases since their 2014 formation.
Their stage show was an hour-long performance wrapped in instrumentals that can be mellow and hard in a second’s notice and songs with vocals that evoke the emotion of carpe diem because today is all we have as they have said about their latest offering, 2023’s Legacy. Trying to come up with a similar band sound to compare them with is difficult, they say their influences are Nine Inch Nails and Alice In Chains. With their look and sound, they are a modern-day medieval band… which is not bad. That is why it is highly recommended you check them out.
This set the stage for headliners, Stabbing Westward. Currently consisting of Christopher Hall on lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, and drum machine programming, Walter Flakus on keyboards, programming, backing vocals, and guitars, Bobby Amaro on drums, and their newest member, Cyamak Ashtiani on guitars, backing vocals, you admit the lineup is quite solid. Exciting to long-time fans, the band returned with their first full-length album in over twenty years back in 2022 with Chasing Ghosts. With that in mind, Stabbing Westward’s catalog covers thirty-three years… so it must have been hard to pare down a set that takes us on a journey that touches everybody in the right places.
Ever personable and accessible, Hall chatted with concertgoers in the pit as the band went through their set which played like their greatest hits delighting established fans and newbies experiencing their first Stabbing Westward concert. Between songs, Hall would give insight into the history of a given song; a few times saying they were going to try something new in a deadpan face before going into another hit, which everybody ate up.
The night’s festivities began hard with “Ungod’s” driving beat as Hall’s vocals rise to a crescendo about literally getting drained by toxic relationships. Next “Falls Apart” keeps the hard-hitting beat coming with the help of Amaro’s crazy drum skills. Of course, Hall effectively brought the emotion of a relationship gone sideways. There was also their cover of The Cure’s “Burn” from 2020’s Hallowed Hymns EP which was performed as a faithful rendition with an Industrial flare.
Later on, you had “Wasted,” which slowed the tempo, but with a message as heavy as ever while Hall sang about self-loathing. “Lies” followed bitingly with its clipping tempo and cutting riffs. Then there was the contemplative “What Do I Have to Do” from the classic 1996 album Wither Blister Burn & Peel slid in with a drive-by of Ashtianti’s ripping guitars accompanied by Flakus’s keyboards, and of course, Hall’s vocals carry the message longingly.
Moving along, “The Thing I Hate” brought on with an electrical intro followed by the cutting guitars in a Punk-tinged anthem of defiance against not being influenced by the hate that surrounds us. This made way for “Ghost” which came in…like a ghost talking about being in a relationship where Hal feels invisible… even if he is in whoever’s face and what he has to do to get attention. Continuing off this theme, “So Far Away” plaintively again spoke about being in a relationship that is here, but distant.
Prefacing a cover of New Order’s hit “Bizarre Love Triangle” Hall explained the song was not what they thought it was going to be…wink, wink. “Haunting Me” then flips the script with Hall singing of the ex-stalker over a beat that reminds one of a sledgehammer. “Nothing” followed, fitting perfectly into the set as a straight Industrial track. Then changing it up again, “Sometimes It Hurts” was followed by “Violent Mood Swings” with its hammering, driving beat. One of their best-known hits, “Save Yourself,” immediately starts next with its unmistakable intro, before seemingly ending the performance.
With the crowd yearning for more, Stabbing Westward quickly for not one, but two encores. It all began with “Waking Up Beside You,” which was fun because it featured the intro from the version they did for 2000’s The Crow: Salvation with its ethereal, whispy vibe instead of the full drive the original cut has. Immediately, they transitioned into “Shame,” which has almost always been Stabbing Westward’s encore as the last line is, “How can I exist without you?” Working flawlessly, the band knows they are only doing what they do because of the fans’ support. Showing just how appreciative they are of their followers, this famous line was repeated as Hall raised his hands to the crowd hitting each segment. An epic way to end the night, it proves that Stabbing Westward is still as passionate and energized as ever before on stage.
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