As It Is/Sharptooth/Point North/Hold Close (The Great Depression Tour - Act II) Tour

EDIT: Sharptooth/Hold Close Added.
EDIT 2: Long Island, NY date added Feb 9th

Glad they're bringing this to the US. They're hoping to play the new album in full. Supports include Point North & others TBA.

It's weird it's not coming to Minneapolis (Patty's hometown) or NYC/San Francisco/Seattle/Portland. Either way I'll be driving down to Kansas City for this show.

 

Wish this was hitting portland, I love point north.

 

Is there VIP for this tour? Everything seems to indicate there is but I can't find VIP tickets anywhere. Wasn't sure if it was an add-on at a later date, etc

 

The Poets Society VIP (Use Desktop Mode to select the city)

 

Gahhh there it is. Thank you!

 

Spotify leaked sharptooth as an opener, guess that trash boat rumor was wrong

 

Technically Spotify don't leak openers, they just grab info from songkick, which anyone can edit (or ask Customer Support to edit) and oddly Point North isn't on that show listing, but... if the venue did accidentally put the wrong openers on the show page then...

As It Is at Voltage Lounge (07 Feb 2019)

 

I seriously wonder if Trash Boat and Bearings could both be on the Boston Manor headliner. That would be such a good lineup.

 

Hold Close added

 

Austin Area Date added:

 

Went to the first day of tour. Sharptooth was fucking sick live and as it is was as well. Dont know how well these shows will sell the room was more than half empty.

 

I'm fucking sad that they cut "The End." to play the "Such Great Heights" cover.

This band has a bad habit of cutting out their good songs in favor of easy sing-alongs, and it's depressing.

 

The Great Depression tour what do you expect.

But honestly fuck this band. It’s so obvious they’re using mental health to market themselves and it’s pretty fucked up. This whole marketing plan for this album cycle is so fucking cheesy, I can’t believe anyone buys into it.

 

The lead singer actually suffers from depression, it's been a theme throughout all of their albums, this isnt new. "Never happy ever after" and "okay." Had recurrent themes of battling depression. I dont listen to them as much anymore, but a lot of the feelings patty has expressed are extremely similar to my situation. Yes the mcr like gimmick is cheesy and definitely some sort of cheap marketing thing, but I don't want to equate that with the great things they've done with hope for a day and all the outside things they've done for their fans. These are genuinely good people, even if you think the eyeliner is corny

 

Rubs me the wrong way that they seem be "theatrical-izing" the whole depression issue. Like there are plenty of bands that talk about and address depression in a meaningful way without wearing all the make-up. It's definitely a marketing thing, even if they are doing a lot of good things behind the scenes.

 

They go for different themes on each album cycle so far, but they're not talking about depression much more than they already were in their 2 previous album cycles. I think that the unfortunate consequence of this new theme is that because it is more flamboyant than their other themes a lot of people are turned off from the substantive things they are doing/saying and have a hard time taking them seriously. They're the first pop punk rooted band I've ever heard talk about issues like toxic masculinity, and I think propping up a female fronted metalcore band like sharptooth is an awesome step for bands like as it is. They do a lot of great things, but I agree that the execution could be better. But simply saying "fuck that band" isnt gonna do much. It just rubs me the wrong way since you can't just assume how members of a band actually feel when it comes to mental health. Ultimately I think it comes from a genuine place, but execution could definitely be better

 

Here's the thing though: That's a failure of the whole scene. Bands from Beartooth to Waterparks have struggled with drawing the line of romanticising and discussing mental health issues.

The difference is As It Is are legitimately trying to start a conversation about. The album isn't a concept album about mental illness, it's a narrative about the shortcomings of the scene in that regard.

In the album Patty plays a character, named The Poet (which is why there is all the makeup and stuff-- it's an homage to the post-hardcore bands of yesteryear) who struggles with trivialising mental health amd singing negative songs, and having to deal with the reprecussions until the end of the album.

The album is more or less a fictionalized account of Chester Bennington's death, but the point is that they know the current romanticiszation and conflicting stigmas around mental health are negative. And they understand why people would be offended, but agree that's why the album needed to be made.

In all my experiences talking to Patty, and hearing him speak he's seemed incredibly candid and genuine about it. Floating from topics about his mental breakdown on Warped '15 and subsequent entrance to therapy, to his perspective of people exploiting the whole "sadboi" cliche to connect to people struggling in the scene, and how he wanted to do something about it, he's always seemed truly commited to being a positive force.

---------------

"okay." was an album about the breaking down the barriers and stigmas of talking about mental health, as they discussed depression, family issues, deaths, homesickness, and relationship grief. But discussing it isn't romanticising it. Just because music is an enjoyable art form that should be fun, that doesn't mean it needs to stay positive. But they said in hindsight they were worried about creating a negative example, or exploiting their fans.

"The Great Depression" is the antitheis of that. From the first track bellowing "We tell you it's okay to die cause we don't give a shit" it's clear they're creating a commentary about those issues. But they're okay with being controversial.

TL;DR It doesn't matter if you appreciate their music or their message or how they get it across. Cause that's the point-- if you're repulsed by it's ostensible romanticisation of mental health issues, that's the point. It's almost a caricature of that, but if you're talking about it, then that's a positive thing. Cause you're making the scene better.

 

They took off the Such Greats Heights cover & are instead playing "Cheap Shots & Setbacks" these fast few dates.

 

Columbus tonight is sold out!

The Kansas City date got a venue change, so I'll be driving down to Merriam, Kansas on Saturday to see this tour!

 

Chicago is almost sold out too.