Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand & Converge played House of Vans (pics, setlists)

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Quicksand at House of Vans
Converge at House of Vans
Quicksand at House of Vans

The free shows at House of Vans in Greenpoint continued last night (7/6) with two of the most influential heavy bands of the last two decades teaming up, Quicksand and Converge. As you’d expect, the line to get in went down several blocks and the venue hit capacity early. It was PACKED for Converge, and especially with most of the floor cleared for a pit, everyone was squished together like sardines (obviously a great way to deal with NYC’s current heat wave).

Converge were great as always, with everything you expect from them fully intact: Jacob Bannon’s larger-than-life stage presence, Kurt Ballou’s tricky riffs, Nate Newton’s pummeling bass tone and tough backup screams, and Ben Koller’s ever-powerful drumming. The rowdy crowd ate up every second of it, rushing the stage over and over to yell into Bannon’s mic (which he tossed into the crowd at least a couple times). We got a great setlist that didn’t focus too much on any one particular album. They kicked off with the great Axe to Fall opener “Dark Horse,” right into the All We Love We Leave Behind opener “Aimless Arrow.” We got You Fail Me highlights like “Last Light” and “Eagles Become Vultures,” and plenty more. The whole set was great, but the double dose of Jane Doe songs that closed the show really drove everything home. We got the spastic opening track “Concubine,” which I think seemed like the end of the show, until Bannon stalked the stage with a finger in the air and finally said “ONE. MORE.” Then he and the rest of the band went into the album’s sprawling 12-minute title track and brought out frequent collaborator Stephen Brodsky (Cave In, Mutoid Man) to sing on it. Killer ending to a killer show.

Quicksand followed, to a slightly less sardine-like room, and after Converge’s confrontational abrasion, their more melodic sound was a refreshing shift. They kicked off with the crushing “Fazer,” and somehow a set that began with one of the band’s biggest songs managed to only get better. While Walter Schreifels turns the spotlight over to Civ in his legendary hardcore band Gorilla Biscuits and he’s more of a humbled frontman in his much newer garage/psych band Dead Heavens, Quicksand is where Walter is in total rock star mode. He owned the stage like it was Madison Square Garden, and the rest of the super-tight band gave him the perfect backdrop to do so. I find myself saying this more and more about reunited bands (because maybe the truth is reunions are a positive thing more often than not), but it’s hard to believe these guys have only played sporadically since their 2012 reunion. They seriously get up there and look like they’ve been doing it for the whole 25 years.

Part of that is likely because the members have stayed active with one project or another. This year alone, Walter has upcoming shows with Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, and Dead Heavens (Maxwell’s and Union Pool), and Sergio Vega has the Deftones tour coming up. Quicksand’s only two upcoming shows are Wrecking Ball and Taste of Chaos.

More pictures and both bands’ setlists from the House of Vans show, below:

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Converge at House of Vans

Quicksand

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Quicksand at House of Vans

Converge @ House of Vans – 7/6/16 Setlist (via)
Dark Horse
Aimless Arrow
The Broken Vow
You Fail Me
Trespasses
All We Love We Leave Behind
Predatory Glow
Phoenix in Flames
In Her Blood
Worms Will Feed
A Glacial Pace
Last Light
Eagles Become Vultures
Concubine
Jane Doe

Quicksand @ House of Vans – 7/6/16 Setlist (via)
Fazer
Too Official
Head To Wall
Unfulfilled
Brown Gargantuan
Freezing Process
Lie And Wait
Delusional
Supergenius
Clean Slate
Skinny (It’s Overflowing)
Thorn in My Side
How Soon Is Now? (The Smiths cover)
Omission
Dine Alone
Shovel
Landmine Spring