Band: Circa Survive
Date: May 4, 2010
Venue: Fox Theater
City: Pomona, CA
Circa Survive
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Lindsay Murphy
Coheed and Cambria and Circa Survive played a spirited show at Pomona’s packed Fox Theater. With overlapping fanbases, excellent live offerings, and two of the year’s top albums so far, the pair was a perfect fit to tour together.
Circa Survive entered the stage and erupted into “Get Out,” the catchy first single off their recent release Blue Sky Noise. A line of five huge mirrors had been erected behind the band, reflecting the massive, impassioned audience.
Frontman Anthony Green is an eminent figure within the scene, his name alternatively eliciting spiels of veneration or rants annoyance. Wearing a white T-shirt with the words “Sale Item” scrawled across, he seemed to be playing a hyperbolic version of himself onstage. Bursting into epileptic fits, fixing the mic stand to his pelvis and extending it for the audience’s use, lifting up his shirt to reveal his abs, spinning wildly with his mic stand—Green’s antics were exaggerated and entertaining, and he knew the crowd loved it.
Circa Survive’s fanbase is incredibly fervent, and Green’s crowd interaction heightened their insanity. He leapt over the photo pit, stood on the partition, and sang with his fans. “Look at your brothers and sisters,” he sermonized, “you are one person in this container.” He hugged a crowd surfer, jettisoned another bold one back into the audience, encouraged them to continue “standing on people’s faces,” and dared them to keep fighting their way to the front.
Guitarists Colin Fragicetto and Brendan Ekstrom, bassist Nick Beard, and drummer Steve Clifford all focused solely on the music and performed strongly.
Circa played four songs off their new record and few fan favorites including “In Fear and Faith,” “Stop the Fuckin’ Car,” and set standouts “Living Together” and “The Great Golden Baby.” The band’s theatrics, coupled with a concrete song choice, more than appeased their ardent fans.