The Echo | Los Angeles, CA | November 15, 2016 | Photo Credit: Zb Images |
Prior to flexing their musical muscle all over the occupants of the Echo in Los Angeles, I sat down with Emarosa for a quick interview. In no way, shape or form did the calm energy and thoughtful dialogue among Bradley Scott Walden, ER White, Jordan Stewart and Matthew Marcellus in the green room allude to what they, collectively, would unleash on stage…but if you’re an Emarosa fan, this doesn’t surprise you. For a band having undergone a jarring transformation, clocking over 100 shows this year and on the tail end of their headlining tour, Emarosa are nothing short of a performance beast and put out as if they have only begun.
And it was a thing of beauty: A sold out room flush with the dedicated, the devoted, the very loud assisting Walden with vocals on every single song (old and new), and the band producing a pristine and thunderous sonic playground. The set list was almost an even split between their latest and utterly stellar album, 131 (out on Hopeless Records), and 2014’s Versus and only three songs into the set, there was Walden using humans as a mode of transportation. Rock and roll. Crowd participation in the form of crowd surfing was encouraged with Walden more careful and caring towards the bodies in the audience hurling themselves about than he was with his own. And giving LA the first ever public airing of “Never” and doing so with a lovely as hell Mrs. Walden aka Amy Meeko on vocals? Yeah, it was a thing of beauty.
PS: Give Matt (their tour manager), a raise; he deserves it. Seriously. No, seriously.
Emarosa
Anarbor
It’s been well over six years since I’ve seen the Arizona band Anarbor and – honestly – prior to this tour, I didn’t realize they were still active, but there they were on tour with Emarosa as main support and giving a solid reminder as to why I dug them in the first place. Thanks for that, gentlemen.
