Concert Review: La Dispute Bust Through Sound And Social Stress At Irving Plaza
People hovered over the Irving Plaza’s barricade as if La Dispute were Jesus and the 12 Apostles, and I am not kidding. You know you have a serious following when you have a symbol and people tattoo it to themselves. To fans, La Dispute spoke to their inner fears of never being enough to a world that does not fulfill them. It is a strange dynamic, but it is also one of the freshest ones to hardcore punk.
What is so crazy about living life, in this society, is that we want to be loved by it while hating it. Everyone wants to save this world while, at times, truly believing it is trash. For the sensitives of this earth, La Dispute spoke to their frustration at not knowing how to embrace their anger and desire to heal. This fact was SO IMPORTANT at witnessing their devout fandom. From the minute the concert began, it felt like an emotional purge. Mosh pits and crowd surfs ignited by the first chord, and Jordan Dryer was treated as messianic.
Entering the stage with a turtle-neck and proceeding to roar and age his voice as if vocal notes can have teeth, I was shook. Who was this guy that could go from harmlessly calm to combatively pissed off. It was attractively alarming because he had manifested, as a stage presence, the false calm and real depression people suffer. Tracks like, “Depart,” “Sad,” “poem,” “Mirror,” and “New” felts like blazing, metallic pleas to remove all falsehoods and fakery. Dreyer’s voice was like a “surrender flag;” waving between octaves and asking listeners to let out their grievances. After all, why should our disappointments with others’ hatefulness or evil be hidden? Why do I have to act like I have not been pushed even though I am being shoved towards the edge?
La Dispute gave an epic show that made their fans’ proud. Again, the audience felt like they owned La Dispute; with some chatting about how honored they felt that the band is growing in attention and fanbase. This made their show feel like a community, of which everyone knew they were coming for some catharsis. For More Information On La Dispute Click Here.
