As one fairly new to the Austin area, last night I had the opportunity to hit up the city to see one of my favorite bands, Close Your Eyes play along with one of my more recent addictions in Altars and also see a few other acts I wasn't so familiar with. Though CYE is one of my favorite bands I have seen them many times, so I was really most excited going into this show to see Altars. As I saw Altars perform many songs off their most recent album "Something More" and a few old jams from their debut album "Conclusions" I couldn't help but be drawn to the mic for sing-a-longs and into the pit when a breakdown would hit. Keep in mind that it was my goal throughout this night to keep from throwing down too much because I couldn't afford to allow my body to take much damage due to my career.

  Altars was finished with their sound check and I was already instantly drawn to the stage. I was jumping and getting my punk-jumps going when they finally introduced themselves and the fun began. They opened up with the songs "Question Everything" and "Eternity" back to back, which were huge for me in terms of singing along and getting to interact with the mic as well as throw down mightily. I felt like I was listening to the Something More album, because those two songs go back to back in the track listing for the album, and the transition between the two songs was flawless.

  Not long after that they came out with the old jams "Scum" and "Lower", which was their single on Conclusions. It seemed more people in the crowd knew the words to Scum and the show's intensity had a major increase towards the end of the song when fellow show-goers and I rushed the stage for the mic to scream along to the pump-up lyric "I am the scum of the earth!" right before the heaviest breakdown of their set.

  The set was capped off flawlessly when Altars played the title track from their more recent album to close it out. As the song began I couldn't help but move being filled with the passion and the intensity I have felt from that very song in recent weeks. By the end of the song I had friends in my arms as we gathered around the mic just to sing "Take my voice!" getting ready for the mayhem that was sure to ensue. The instruments silenced and the singing became louder, the mic was firmly grasped in my hand as we all together screamed "Take my voice and use it for something more." At this point the bass dropped and a passion filled pit session occurred. My goal is never to hurt anyone when I mosh but I didn't pay attention to anything as pure emotion and my drive to move to this perfect part of this perfect song filled my body. Halfway through I noticed my hand hit someone else in the face very hard and usually I stop and ask if whoever is okay but I was entirely too into this song. Entirely too into Altars and I was in my own world throwing down with as much passion as I ever have to a band.

  Altars made me go insane on a night I told myself I wouldn't go insane. The crowd reaction to Altars was by far the best during the entire show until of course Close Your Eyes hit the stage, who's set was also very flawless.

   Overall, I'd have to give the live performance by Altars at the Dirty Dog in Austin, Texas on November 21st, 2013 a 10/10. One of the best sets I've seen in a long time and I can't WAIT to see these dudes again. In addition everyone in the band was extremely nice, they all signed a poster for me, the vocalist even made sure to avoid blowing smoke in my face knowing that I'm straight edge, even though I wouldn't have been mad if he did. Very respectful, humble, and awesome dudes.

  Austin, Texas this is a call-out to your scene. When bands like Altars and Close Your Eyes comes to town it's a great experience to go see them. Even if you don't know the band, support the venues, support the dudes in the bands, and with the music being so good you'll still have an awesome time. You're lucky to be right in the middle of Texas because a lot of shows at least come through the area and so the more the venues thrive and the scene grows the more amazing tour line-ups we can get here. A show like this could easily be way bigger in Austin we just have to work for it. Let's start showing bands what Austin is all about and make sure they ALWAYS want to come back!

  I'm going to end this now before this turns into a rant about how these type of shows can help this music scene thrive. Until next time, my name is Luke Cave, you stay classy ATX.
 

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