After scouring the internet for a little bit, I was able to find a few more live stream concerts taking place, and first up on that list was AWOLNATION! Now, I should have seen these guys play back in June, but again, the pandemic has ruined all fun things this year (at least). The tour would have be in support of their new album that was released earlier this year, Angel Miners and the Lightening Riders. If you recall, I did give that album a pretty tepid review, but I still love this band so much that it was a no-brainer to show them some love and buy a ticket to this “virtual concert.”
Of the few live streamed concerts that I’ve attended, this one definitely had some neat features. This was also the first one to be hosted by Live Nation, so perhaps that had a lot to do with the extras and the almost crystal clear quality of the recording. There were four different live stream camera views to pick from, whether that was backstage or just the show itself. I tried out the side stage option for a short bit, but found that I liked the default stage show view better. Plus, there were a ton of different camera angles of the performance in this view, so it kept it interesting.
Having seen AWOLNATION live about four or five times, I was expecting greatness but was truthfully a little let down. They all dressed like hobos (expected), but front man Aaron Bruno’s vocals were a bit off, and I don’t know if that had to do with the time off not performing live or if was just moving around too much. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all bad, but there were more moments than I would have liked that just didn’t sound all that great. With that being said, the energy level was through the roof for all of the members, but being instrument-free, Bruno had the most room to bop around the stage, and he definitely did that.
The set list was sadly very short, with only a dozen songs. In my opinion, a live stream show could go on forever! Plus, this concert was not like the last two I watched where they were playing specific albums in full – so sky’s the limit! There was a decent mix, but a majority of the tracks unsurprisingly came from Angel Miners and the Lightening Riders. The tracks they picked were ones I was fond of, so I didn’t mind that as much. Otherwise, they played staples like “Kill Your Heroes” and “Run,” and of course the show ended with the song that threw them on the map, “Sail.”
Overall, compared to my very limited previous live stream concert experiences, this one was sadly my least favorite. Maybe it’s because with the others I knew I was going to listen to an album I loved, and with this I just had to hope they’d play songs I liked. And while the overall video quality was good and I appreciated the show taking place on an actual stage, the band itself could have been better. But I’ll take AWOLNATION any way I can get them! I echo Bruno when he said that hopefully we’ll all be able to see each other soon. In person.