With the start of Spring comes the start of the spring concert season. This year, Balance and Composure are first up. Balance and Composure are an alternative band who originally announced their break up in January 2017. They played a few shows and then they went silent, that is until January of 2019.

They took to Twitter to say they wanted to end the band on their own terms. That meant they would be playing six more shows (but due to high demand that turned into quite a few more). I never got to see Balance and Composure before they originally broke up. I had accepted the fact I never would. Until I saw they would be playing in Boston on April 6.

Now I know I always say “I could not miss this opportunity” but here, I really could not. It was my second chance. And I am beyond glad I took it. Tigers Jaw, a band from Scranton, Pennsylvania as well as a special guest would be coming along with them. That guest would be the band Ovlov. I have wanted to see Tigers Jaw since I learned about them in 2016 but have not had the chance to see them live.

First up was Ovlov. Now I will be honest, I have never heard of this band before. But I will say I did become quite interested when I saw on their twitter profile they are from Newtown, Connecticut. They played a pretty short set, but the crowd loved them anyway. Looking around the venue I did not see anyone singing the lyrics back, so I think this was the first time most everyone was seeing them. They did not sound as ambient as Balance and Composure, but they did not sound like Tigers Jaw either. They seemed to be the stereotypical formula. Guitars there, vocals here. However, that is not a bad thing. I still liked them and plan to look into their music catalog.

Next came Tigers Jaw. The crowd was excited from the moment they went on until the moment the exited the stage. Kids were crowd surfing and going wild in the pit. Kids were also singing the lyrics back; we were all a community.

One of the top moments of their set was during their song “Never Saw It Coming.” It is off their debut album. Without asking the crowd to sing along, we did from start to finish. With everyone’s voices going together this live version sounded like the studio version to me. And the smiles on Benjamin Walsh (guitar, vocals) and Brianna Collins (keyboard, vocals) showed how special that was to them.

One thing I did like about this concert was that there was almost no wait between set times. The band would end, take down their instruments, the next band would set up and take a 10-minute break before coming out to perform. You were not sitting around looking bored on your phone. However, running a show like this makes it go so much faster, which is bittersweet when a band is going to be playing one of their final shows.

Now it would be time for Balance and Composure to play one of their last Boston Shows (as they would be playing the next night as well). It didn’t hit me till they were on stage setting up that this would be the one and only time I would ever see them live. I lived in the moment. I found myself singing along and dancing more than I found myself filming their set. Even though it was the only time I will ever see them I did not feel the need to film everything. I am happy with the footage I got. I am happy with the fact I sang along with everyone else.

During a break in the set, the band told the crowd that our show was the very first one to sell out and how Boston was like a second home to them. They even said that this was the best show of this tour (and that they did not say that to every crowd). As a result they had fun on stage too. They were dancing around and playing their instruments with such passion. Even though it was sad that Balance and Composure would not tour after this short run, the vibe of the show was not sad. It was a celebration of all that Balance and Composure have done.

Now while Balance and Composure may be done, their music is still out there. So if you have never listened to them or if it has been a while since you have, I suggest you look them up on Spotify and listen to what they created and put out into the world.