Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming
L.S. Dunes cruised into the Waiting Room last night (7/26) and tore the house down. While the temperature outside was hot, the killer show inside was even hotter!
For those unfamiliar L.S. Dunes is an emo-pop supergroup with members from My Chemical Romance, Coheed & Cambria, Thursday, and Circa Survive. When I saw the band was coming to Omaha I was really excited as I've followed these emo titans for a long time. I had the chance to see My Chemical Romance back in the Ranch Bowl days! They were actually the last band I saw before the venue closed only a few weeks later. Now it's a Walmart parking lot, R.I.P.
Before the show I was hanging by the backstage door and Travis Stever from Coheed & Cambria and L.S. Dunes guitarist came walking through. I was sooo pumped, but like the ultimate professional I kept my cool. I shook his hand and told him I was a big Coheed fan, having seen the band nine times, with my tenth show coming up in September when they play The Admiral. I had talked with Travis a few times previously and he said he remembered me! Whether this is true or not, what I kind gesture. Both times previously he was an absolute sweetheart. I told him about the first time we met in Kansas City at a radio festival.
My wife and I saw Travis hanging out watching the final band Weezer but there was a fence separating the crowd from the tour busses. Shortly after the show ended some other Coheed fans started to gather hoping the band would come over to the fence and say hi. Rather than wait we saw a gap in the fence a few feet away and I said "you have to make your own destiny!" We snuck through and sauntered our way over. Travis was super generous with his time and took a picture. We ended up getting stuck in all the traffic trying to leave and were the very last car out of the venue, but it was totally worth it.
This time around no picture was needed, just a quick chat and he was on his way.
Before L.S. Dunes the band Pinkshift from Baltimore hit the stage to warm the crowd with some pop punk tunes. They were fierce right out of the gate with shredding guitars and upbeat jams about burning down the system. They had a bit of a harder edged Paramore vibe. Check them out on all streaming platforms today!
After some stage setup the time had come for the mighty L.S. Dunes! The band took the stage to raucous applause. Everyone stood with their phones ready to capture a pic from the already-well-known members. On the left side fans swarmed to shriek for Frank Iero of the legendary My Chemical Romance. The number of My Chemical Romance shirts in the crowd was astounding. As Anthony Green took the microphone the band blasted into "Bombsquad" from their debut album Past Lives. With his trademark high pitched falsetto Anthony screeched and bopped his way across the stage putting everyone in a trance. To his left Travis shredded on guitar while occasionally stepping to the mic for some screams and shouts.
Between songs Anthony mused about finding out aliens are real. "Today is a crazy day, we found out aliens are real! How do we have a rock show after that? I think we have to have a rock show after that news? Right?". He would go on to say "The earth is flat! We should be the flat earth band" Meanwhile Frank smirked and said "no", haha. It was a funny moment.
After blasting the crowd for over an hour Anthony said "I apologize for everything I said, am I absolved?" The crowd cheered in approval.
After a quick break the band returned to finish the evening playing "Sleep Cult", the closing track from Past Lives. The crowd swayed with lights in hand to the calming "shooby doo" lyrics. This was definitely one for the books. To see all of these talented band members come together for this incredible side project was amazing.
Huge thanks to L.S. Dunes and management for photo access! L.S. Dunes' album Past Lives is streaming now on all platforms. Check them out today!
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L.S. Dunes
Pinkshift
