There are concerts that will forever be imprinted on my memory, that as I remember them, I feel like I am right back in the midst of the euphoria. Ben Harper at the Ryman in 2005: 3 sets, 33 songs and 4 hours of pure bliss. Driving through a snowstorm to see Iron & Wine at Denver’s Paramount Theatre in 2007. I thought I was going to die that night on those roads, but I would have died happy. Mumford & Sons bringing their big tent revival-esque show to Nashville’s War Memorial in 2010. Yes, I had beer spilled all over me that night. Yes, I was thrown up on. Yes, I even ended up in the ER that night from an injury suffered in an intramural football game earlier in the evening. YES, it was still quite possibly the greatest concert I have ever been to.
Then nights like the one this past fall happen, a night that will forever be cemented in my own unofficial “Shows Hall of Fame”, when one of my favorite bands (and one of the most talented I might add) Seryn graced the makeshift stage of my house’s living room floor and left each of those in attendance mesmerized and awestruck at the sheer power and weight of their live performance. Now for anyone who has seen the talented Denton, Texas, five-piece play at a proper venue can attest to, they play a brand of folk rock that sometimes can get cranked up to eleven (insert Spinal Tap jokes here, please). It is truly a sight to see. But even more impressive, on that late October night was the way in which each of the band’s members handled their art with such delicateness throughout an unplugged acoustic set. There is always a sense of bringing order out of the chaos with Seryn’s songs, at one moment launching listeners into a post-rock ether only to bring them back again to a soothing sereneness when the music drifts into the background and the only instruments left are the wondrous harmonies of the voices.
My comment that night to a crowd of a little over 70 that had gathered in the living room and spilled to all corners of the house was that it was like “Christmas, my birthday, and every other holiday thrown in together”, and in so many ways it felt like a grand celebration worthy of its own official holiday. It was both a culmination and a nascent beginning of thoughts and dreams that had been floating around for years as my love for music grew and evolved. Cause A Scene didn’t exist at that point, but the seeds that had been planted during years of musical discovery germinated rapidly from that point forward. There were moments during the course of the evening where I was nearly moved to tears, both through Seryn’s propulsive songs and the incredible intricacy of opener Tony Brown and the Lion’s Den (talk about being pleasantly surprised in a HUGE way!). That night, in a form true to Seryn’s standout “We Will All Be Changed”, we were forever changed through the awakened belief that music can not only entertain or inspire, but can transform each of us.
The entire evening was filmed and recorded by the fantastic Ryan Silver:
It was also photographed by my wonderfully talented roommate, Barrett Santi. You can see many more of the photos from the evening here.
