Balance and Composure - Light We Made (Oct 7 2016) Album • Page 65

As much as it would suck to see them break up since they're one of my favorite bands, I could totally see this happening. I do remember the Strange Nerve podcast a while back when Jon was featured and he made it seem like we were lucky to even have gotten LWM and they almost broke up after their van crash a few years back. Not to mention they don't really seem to enjoy touring all too much and have been fairly quiet most of this year. Also with Jon's new project, I wouldn't be surprised if he was going to put a lot more focus on that over B&C.

 

I always expect this band to break up so it wouldn't surprise me but I would be sad. They just never seemed to really break out of just being a career opening act. I think I've only seen them headline once or twice, every time I've seen them they've been the openers, and this tour with circa & thrice will be no different.

 

Just curious, which bands does Balance normally tour with? Theres prob some correlation there if the audience isn't stoked on their newer material.?

I know they've toured with Circa once or twice and that should be a receptive audience but idk what sort of vibe the average Balance tour would bring. I'm assuming it's different than the aforementioned.

 

I thought it was Strange Nerve I heard that on. That's a great episode that Jon opened up a lot on. Taylor does fantastic with that podcast and I recommend at least that episode to anyone on this thread!

 

they get grouped with other yip bands. PBTT, La Dispute, Citizen, Title Fight, Turnover, etc. They've been openers for bands like Circa (multiple times) Thrice, Coheed, and Manchester, so it's really all over the place. They get great tours honestly.

 

I’ve never understood why they weren’t bigger. Every album has been so great and they haven’t really ever misfired. But, I will on the last two album cycles the receptions to new songs were weak. But over time I think that changes, ecespcially since last time I saw them the strongest reception was for TTWTWM songs.

 

LWM had some misses, tbh. Height of popularity and buzz with TTWTWM seems about rigtht thus far.

 

I'm not sure how much hype is actually realistic for this band. I mean the fact that they're getting reviewed by p4k is above and beyond what seems realistic to me. They and their fans should probably be really happy with that sort of critical exposure.

 

I think their performances on these larger tours are partially to blame for this. I don't think they really made new fans.

 

I do agree with that. Their sets on those bigger tours were pretty lackluster and they seemed to only ever play their more subdued songs.

 

That's because Jon can handle the softer stuff a lot more. He's sounded better live over time because they're able to incorporate way less "heavy" vocal stuff

 

Eh, I don't really think their performance is to blame for that. I feel like there's already pretty good overlap between Circa and Balance fans, especially since they're both Doylestown bands. People don't really go to Thrice shows to hear new bands. And speaking as a Coheed fan.... Coheed fans are dumb, fickle assholes lol

 

Coheed is my favorite band, and the fans are the absolute worst, no doubt, haha.

 

Balance's set as the opener on the current Circa/Thrice tour:

Void
For A Walk
Spinning
When I Come Undone
Tiny Raindrop
Midnight Zone
It was a weird one for sure. I get that they were low energy songs for the most part but they seemed like.... not into it. They didn't sound bad though. Erik and Matt weren't there, they had two other random dudes with them.

Between the missing members, Jon's new music, that tweet from a couple weeks ago... idk, not looking good for their future.

 

Prob feels shitty to be surpassed by Chon. Atleast on the billing.

 

I doubt that has anything to do with it

They've made it pretty known that this is probably their last tour at least for a long while, they seem just burnt out

 

Are they that bad at picking setlists? Those songs are all cool, but are super low energy songs.

 

I mostly like that setlist. Not looking forward to When I Come Undone[/spoilers]. I think that song is a total drag.

 

I'm totally bummed that this band might no longer be a thing :( TTWTWM is so near and dear to me, huge favorite.

 

That setlist is really weird, but I can’t say cuz I was too late for their set on Friday. I thought for sure they would play after Chon. Made the same mistake with O’Brother on the farewell tour where I thought surely Animals As Leaders would open.

 

I'm all for these guys taking a break/hiatus if its for the sake of their own mental health or to regain the creativity and passion for the band, but to see them break up for good would suck so hard especially since they're one of my favorite bands.


Also strange to see that Chon is above B&C on the bill. Last time I saw them open for Circa at Toad's Place a few years ago Chon played first. I feel like B&C is way bigger.

 

Bands like Chon and Polyphia have gotten really popular over the last year+. Pretty interesting, can't really think of many other instrumental bands that kids actually latched onto like them in the past 10 or so years. Animals As Leaders is the only thing i can think.

 

Chon are huge right now. They can pretty much fill a 1000 cap venue wherever these days.

 

a lot of that is due to...

having a really good live show. They completely won me over during that Circa, B&C, and Chon tour a few years back. Their shows are really fun even for people who have never listened to them before.

 

Yeah it was kind of a bummer that O'brother opened instead of being the middle band on that tour. The Animals as Leaders fans in the crowd were kind of assholes and their set in the middle threw off the vibe of the shows a bit. They are very talented and I know Riley is a big AsL fan but I found it odd