Last night at 10 p.m., a restless crowd cheered as Vertical Horizon [8] finally appeared onstage under the blue spotlights of the quaint Westcott Theater. [9]
Dressed in jeans and black T-shirts, lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Scannell, backing vocalist and guitarist Keith Kane, and bass guitarist Corey McCormick strapped on their guitars and drummer Jason Sutter struck the first notes of what would be great show.
Matt Scannell cranked his Gibson as the band kicked off with “When All Is Said And Done” from their new Burning The Days album. In an early but show-defining moment, the music was loud, but there was a calm felt throughout the room that lasted all night.
Much to the crowd’s delight, the band went straight into “You’re A God” from their Everything You Want album before Scannell addressed the crowd.
“We’re gonna do some new songs and some old songs and we’re all gonna fall in love,” he said.
And he was right. The band loved the crowd and the crowd loved the band.
In addition to Scannell’s excellent vocal and instrumental performance, the audience enjoyed Kane’s solo vocal performance on “Shackled” and a bass guitar solo from McCormick during which the band jammed in perfect sync with each other.
The show’s high point was a performance of “Give You Back” during which the band seemed to form its strongest connection with crowd.
After playing a few additional new songs, including their single “Save Me From Myself," Scannell approached the microphone once again.
“This song was like a gift from up above,” he said as the band began playing “Everything You Want," the song everyone had been waiting to hear all night.
The set ended with a huge round of applause, cheers and whistles, and the band waved, smiling as they left the stage before returning to treat the crowd to “I’m Still Here” in an encore performance.
A perfect song to end on, Vertical Horizon proved that they are in fact still here. With new material that sounds as good as Everything You Want, the gift of charisma, the ability to connect with an audience and great live sound, good things are definitely in store for this band.
