Knocked Loose w/ Show Me the Body, Loathe, Speed at Granada Theater, Lawrence KS (2024-05-03)

(Barely) controlled chaos over four acts–

That was the description coming out of the mayhem of a very sold-out show featuring Knocked Loose, Loathe, Show Me the Body, and Speed, who all took over the Granada Theater in downtown Lawrence.

Knocked Loose played this same venue in October 2022 to another sold-out crowd and people were still talking about that show; in the in-between time that this show was announced and with the secret of the mayhem and potency of their live shows now fully out, tickets became very scarce, very quickly.

The Kentucky hardcore punk metal band has a new full-length, You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, out at week’s end via Pure Noise Records, but fans (and even some of the staff) had already memorized every word to the three songs issued in advance, “Blinding Faith”, “Don’t Reach for Me” and “Suffocate” (which features Poppy on the studio version).

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The four-act evening began with a thirty-minute set from Australian five-piece hardcore punk band, Speed, out in support of their upcoming debut album, Only One Mode, due out July 12. Vocalist Jem Siow and his guitarist brother Aaron formed the band out of the ashes of Aaron’s former band Endless Heights, and immediately brought a high energy to the packed house.

Their enthusiasm was contagious (with full-on moshing even before a single note was played), balancing the fierceness of songs like the new single, “Real Life Love” with a very evident joy on their faces to their first big overseas tour, half a world away from their native Sydney. The crowd responded in kind, surprised to start the night so well and becoming fans of their music in the process.

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Liverpool UK quartet Loathe played for a similar length, the alternative metal rockers out in support of last year’s Audiotree from Nothing EP, with their fourth full-length being written and recorded in-between touring. Their heavy and often dark sound has been described as Deftones-esque, with touches of Sleep Token and early Slipknot, but their touring experience and continued musical growth points to more of a unique sound on their upcoming album.

Vocalist Kadeem France proved an effective inciter, getting the crowd jump as he did, and he himself jumped over to the Bottleneck following, to do double-duty by joining Philly metalcore band Jesus Piece on stage as well.

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The memorably named Show Me the Body started their thirty-five minute set somewhat slower and slightly awkward, compared to the high-energy of the two previous bands with vocalist/banjo player Julian Pratt more speaking than singing his lyrics, but the NYC post hardcore band, (who has been in the game for a decade), managed to rile the crowd up suitably for the headliner and brought the audience to a frenzy.

The band put out a live album last year and a set of remixes for their previous album, 2022’s Trouble the Water (on Loma Vista Recordings) and Pratt’s eclectic vocals and stage demeanor took a bit of getting used to, though he seemed casual and unbothered, even letting two crew members from backstage, take the mic to rap some verses.

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After a set change and lights dimming to expose a lit cross, similar to their new album cover, Knocked Loose emerged onto a dark stage amid crowd shrieks and droning walk-on music. Singer Brian Garris entered, and the entire place exploded like a bomb, beginning their seventy-five-minute set with the lead single from the upcoming record, “Blinding Faith”. Bodies and heavy guitar riffs were flying in the air with following song, 2019’s “Mistakes Like Fractures” with the band providing the ideal soundtrack for venting and releasing any pent-up anger or emotions.

Garris possessively stalks the stage with a confidence of knowing the band has become as big as they are, and also asks the audience to give as much of themselves as the band does during the show, a request that’s already a given for the growing census of diehard fans.

The setlist only had the band playing the three singles that have preceded the new album, preferring the fans discover the other new tracks on their own, and also sticking to more familiar favorites. But, given the level of mayhem, Garris probably could have read names from a phone book and still had a pit swirling in circular motion and bodies crowd-surfing on all sides.

With band and audience gasping from a gleeful exhaustion, 2021’s “Permanent” would end their headlining set… or so we were meant to think, with a false ending instead evolving into two more additional songs – “Deep in the Willow” and “Everything is Quiet Now”, the pair of connected singles they released last year that were combined into an extended horror-themed music video.

Like almost every other stop on the current tour, Lawrence was knocked out by the bedlam of Knocked Loose, and more than pleasantly jarred by the musical sparring of support acts, Show Me the Body, Loathe, and Speed, a heavyweight hardcore roster that stands above any other current touring package.