Stand Atlantic F.E.A.R Tour Stops in Pittsburgh

Shot for Drusky Entertainment

Crafthouse Stage & Grill is a relatively new music venue located in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. I’ve only been to one show there (The Dangerous Summer w/ The Brkn and Atlantic Wasteland) and it reminds me of a nice mix of Hard Rock Cafe and Spirit (located in Lawrenceville). There’s a lot to do there, but when you’re there for a show, you can be in the standing room or, if you can get a seat, sit at a table or the bar. There’s plenty of room, just a unique take on a music venue.

Stand Atlantic took their F.E.A.R tour to Pittsburgh on June 16th with Census, With Confidence and No Love for the Middle Child, and sold it out.

Census took the stage first. They’re a progressive rock band, but lovingly refer to themselves as an emo boy band, which I can get behind, though I see boy bands as bands that don’t perform with their instruments, such as BTS or 1D. Overall they were a great selection to open up the show. From the very start, they fired off with insane energy and rode it the entire set. They got the crowd pumped up and there was a lot of head banging from on stage and off. I also enjoyed the pop culture references they had in some of their songs such as in “Ruin My Life” they say “go ghost like Danny Phantom” and they have a song called “Curse of the Black Pearl”, referencing Captain Jack Sparrow’s ship in Pirates of the Caribbean. Lead singer, Ben, led the charge and made sure everyone knew the energy they needed to match.

No Love for the Middle Child, aka Andrew, an indie/alt artist from Philly, brought along a drummer and DJ to accompany his set. Through my research for this review, I learned that he knows how to play seven different instruments. The entire time he was on stage, it was a party. It was a cool change of pace from the first band, while also appealing to the same demographic. He also reminded me SO MUCH of Luke Hemmings from 5SOS… So naturally it made my heart skip a little beat. Kind of a mix of Luke and Kid Laroi. He is also wild because towards the end of the set, No Love decided to climb on one of the speakers and continue the song. There was a lot of crowd interaction that felt very genuine and special. Even after his set was over, he was talking to some audience members who were standing towards the front.

With Confidence was the last band to play before the headliners came on stage. They have pop/punk State Champs-type sound and, like Stand Atlantic, are from Sydney, Australia. Out of everyone, I’d at least heard of them, but never listened to anything of theirs. They had the crowd eating out of their hands the whole set. Each song had people singing along and it was evident that a lot of the crowd was not only there for Stand Atlantic, but also With Confidence. They slowed it down a bit towards the end, just to bring the party back to end their time on stage

First time I’d ever seen Stand Atlantic was back in 2019 at the first ever Sad Summer Festival. I knew they had something when I saw them back then, and now in 2022 they had their first ever headlining tour, and sold out Pittsburgh as well as several other shows on the tour. By the time each member had taken their position on stage, the entire floor was covered in bodies ready for the beat to drop.

Bonnie is the lead singer and she 100% runs the show. She has such an incredible stage presence and it’s obvious she enjoys every second of it. Being a woman-fronted band is also something that plays in their favor because you don’t see that too often, especially in this genre. They have a “f**k that” kind of vibe with their music, which is definitely something that appeals to the demographic they play to, with songs like “Pity Party” and “Deathwish”.

The audience knew every word to every single song on the setlist. The walls shook with the amount of sound coming from that part of the building. They even played a nice mix of new and old, but the fans were obviously very excited to hear the songs from the newest album live for the first time. They took the time to throw in some slow songs, like “Toothpick”, before bringing the party back shortly after.
As encouraged, fans created a couple of mosh pits during the night and kept the night going all through the encore. They ended the night with “Molotov” and the crowd went wild one last time.

What an awesome show. There wasn’t a single band that played that I didn’t enjoy. The F.E.A.R North America tour continues with a few more cities, but if you can’t catch a show, check out F.E.A.R, the album wherever you listen to your music!