half•alive’s Persona Tour: Concert Review
image credit: half•alive
Indie alternative band half•alive concluded the North American leg of their album tour on May 2nd at the spacious Hollywood Palladium. The concert featured all eleven songs off their album Persona, released in November, as well as the band’s signature choreographed dancing and visual storytelling. With openers mehro and The Walters, the two-and-a-half hour performance was well worth the price of admission.
Singer-songwriter mehro opened the show with the haunting “pirate song.” Their style switches from soft, seductive vocals and acoustic instrumentals to grungier rock, but mehro kept the overall mood light with humor in between songs. For all the hopeless romantics in the crowd, “chance with you” and “you’re so pretty” were standout songs.
The Walters followed, delivering guitar-driven indie rock with a slight Midwestern twang. Lead vocalist Luke explained the band’s dramatic history, from their start in 2014 in Chicago to their breakup in 2017, to their reunion five years later when their song “I Love You So” began trending on TikTok. The band concluded their set with the song that brought them back together. Both openers are anticipating their own tours in the fall to promote their recent releases.
After resetting for the main act, the stage darkened again as a spooky sci-fi-esque instrumental played. The two Muppet-like monsters Sonny and Cher, featured on the Persona album cover, stepped trepidatiously into view, wearing blue jumpsuits emblazoned with the words “Persona Space Camp” on the back. They scanned the stage and waved to the crowd before locking eyes with each other and embracing as the mounting instrumentals of “Persona” transitioned into the nostalgic “Sophie’s House” and the band took the stage.
Fan favorites “The Fall,” the band’s first released song, and “Summerland” followed, both drawing crowd interaction. Frontman Josh Taylor let the crowd sing parts of “The Fall.” Thanks to fans passing out colorful paper hearts, the venue was lit with an array of colors when concertgoers whipped out their phone flashlights as they sang the chorus for “Summerland,” beginning with “Something about May makes it all feel better,” appropriate for the date of the show.
The choreography performed by dancers Dylan and Casey, as well as Taylor himself, was lively and engaging. Each song’s dance is choreographed by brothers Josh and Aidan Carberry of JA Collective and often incorporates fast-paced, break-dance style movements. Standouts were the dances for “Automatic” and “What’s Wrong,” both loud and energetic songs.
The show alternated between louder and quieter moments. An acoustic opening for “arrow” drew tears before transitioning into the normal upbeat version of the song. Taylor played an acoustic medley of the songs “Beige,” “Hot Tea,” and “creature” before leading the crowd in the reflective and soft “Thank You” and “Songs” from Persona. Taylor explained some of the intention behind the album, how each song captures a different fleeting memory of people and places. He encouraged the crowd to savor the moment of creating together as the lyrics “The time we get is merciless / So when we are together, let it be infinite / While it lasts” rang out.
The band performed “Tears in the Rain,” a new single written for the tour and released on streaming platforms earlier that day. The timely lyrics featured an emotional chorus, encouraging listeners to focus on love amid societal upheaval. The performance of the dreamy “R.I.P.,” also released for tour, brought out Luke from The Walters to take up the second verse.
The concert concluded with the funky “still feel,” which launched the band into the spotlight with the release of its music video almost seven years ago, and the reassuring “RUNAWAY.” Taylor, drummer Brett Kramer, and bassist J. Tyler, as well as Casey and Dylan, bowed out, and the crowd slowly dispersed, the show itself now only one of the memories referenced in Persona.
The performance was phenomenal and certainly pleased both fans and newcomers with the unique blend of song and dance. For longtime fans and those who follow the “lore” of the album, there was plenty to dissect, from the red racing uniforms the band wore and the references to a place called “Space Camp” to the openings and interludes with Sonny and Cher. The show encapsulates a dissociative journey of escaping a fast-paced world and reflection before returning with new wisdom and peace of mind. Ending with “still feel”’s metaphors of space and gravity to describe renewal of awareness and action, and “RUNAWAY”’s lyrics, “I know that everywhere I am is everywhere I should be / I don’t need to run away,” the band perfectly concluded the concert.
The Persona Tour continues through the end of June with tour dates in Europe, the UK, and Australia.
