Dayseeker w/ Northlane, Wind Walkers, sace6 at GrindersKC, Kansas City MO (2026-05-16)

Pale Moonlight
Shapeshift
Dreamstate
Burial Plot
Crawl Back to My Coffin
Homesick
The Ghost of You (My Chemical Romance cover)
Forgotten Ghost
Bloodlust (with Northlane’s Marcus Bridge)
Without Me
Crying While You’re Dancing
Nocturnal Remedy
The Living Dead (with sace6)
Creature in the Black Night
Sleeptalk

Encore:

Neon Grave

Carbonized
4D
Talking Heads
Evian (Cut short due to crowd injury)
Dante
Welcome to the Industry
Worldeater / Dispossession / Jinn / Solar
Clockwork

WIND WALKERS SETLIST

Drowning Hymns
The End Aesthetic
Silk & Static
Eating My Heart Out
Dead Talk
Hereditary
Bodybag
Hangfire

sace6 SETLIST

nepenthe
ego
allured
covet
devotion
perfidy

The Pale Moonlight shined down on a hot (both literally and figuratively) night in Kansas City–

On the warmest night of the year so far, people queued in a line more than three blocks long to get into Grinders KC in the Crossroads district for a long sold-out performance headlined by Dayseeker.

Additionally, the night was loaded with support from Northlane, Wind Walkers, and sace6, for a stop on the band’s Pale Moonlight Tour (named for the opening track of last November’s full-length, Creature in the Black Night, via Spinefarm Records). That solid lineup delivered, in succession for nearly four hours, a balance of catharsis, chaos, and melody without losing momentum, to a packed and multi-generational outdoor crowd.

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Opening the evening were LA-based newcomers sace6, signed at the beginning of the year to Sumerian Records, and who have a debut LP, brutalist out now, featuring singles, “ego” and “covet”, both of which were played during their six-song opening set (and yeah, they like using lowercase titles apparently).

The project is a collaboration between vocalist Sace and producer/guitarist Noah Thomas and have forged a genre-bending sound that fuses R&B melodies with the heavy power of modern metal and alternative rock, which they have inexplicably describe as simply, “pop music.” It may have been too early (and too hot) for a full-fledged pit to develop, but it wasn’t for lack of the duo’s trying. The mix of Sace’s smooth and emotional vocals and Thomas’ heavy riffs and screams helped set the table for what was to come.

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The central Massachusetts-based post-hardcore, alt-metalcore band Wind Walkers was next, first formed all the way in 2012, with a pivotal moment in their history being the 2023 hiring of vocalist Trevor Borg, following a previous indefinite hiatus of the band and a lineup change to the current – Borg (vocals), Timothy Comeau (guitar), Neil Comeau (guitar), Craig Martin (bass), and Ethan Cheesman (drums).

The band (who has even dabbled in electro-pop on “Panic Room” with Fairlane) filled that stylistic gap between atmospheric heaviness and more radio-friendly hooks. Their well-paced set leaned into soaring choruses and polished tension on tracks like “Eating My Heart Out” and “Bodybag”, causing the riled-up crowd to sing along with many choruses.

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Bringing technical aggression from down under, Sydney’s Northlane was up next, and have quickly become one of our live favorites, having caught them headlining two summers ago in Lawrence and are out in support of 2024’s 5-track EP, Mirror’s Edge, a 10^th anniversary reloaded reissue of album, Node, as well as more recent single, “Evian” (which is not an ode to the bottled water but a song that explores themes of self-improvement and reflecting on confronting personal trauma to grow, before moving forward.)

Their performance set maybe the most effective tone of the evening— industrial electronics, low-end grooves, and strobing lights, all making for an immersive theme. This was punctuated by vocalist Marcus Bridge’s balance between clean vocals and emo screams and guitarist Jon Deiley’s swirling atmospheric audio textures (made more dystopian by looks outward from his Matrix-esque lighted glasses).

It may have been too intense, as “Evian” was cut due to a medical emergency in the crowd (and “Bloodside” was skipped all together), but the band and the crowd rebounded with an ending medley (with sace6’s Thomas joining in) and 2022’s “Clockwork” to end their set on a strong note.

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Anticipation had reached a high as Dayseeker took to the stage in near darkness to start off with the beginning track (and namesake of the tour) of the new album, “Pale Moonlight” followed by “Shapeshift”, leaning into several of the newer tracks for their headlining set.

Vocalist Rory Rodriguez remains compelling due to never overselling his emotions, with his lyrics breathing with a lived-in sincerity. Rodriguez is not afraid to show his gratitude or mention something from his own life, like his father’s battle with cancer, in the hope it might provide some inspiration to someone going through similar.

“Homesick” became an example of the crowd sounding louder than the band, and their cover of My Chemical Romance’s “The Ghost of You” (followed by their own “Forgotten Ghost”) went down so well live, it could have easily passed as one of their originals.

Any respite for the crowd to catch their collective breath was short, as Rodriguez instructed the pit to open back up on the driving “Bloodlust”, with Northlane’s Bridge coming out to assist with the vocals. 2022’s “Without Me” found the audience again singing along, as Rodriguez asked in verse, “How do you feel the same without me?”

Rodriguez began “The Living Dead” from the new album, completely alone, but was soon joined by Sace to finish the song (we always love when the acts on a bill collaborate on stage together) and when he announced 2019’s “Sleeptalk” was to be the last song of the evening, most knew better, but played along. Sure enough, they were back with a one-song encore, 2022’s “Neon Grave” about Rodriguez’ father’s passing, which brought all those built-up emotions to a set-finishing apex.

What worked the most for Dayseeker was their ability to contrast gentler crowd swaying numbers with chaotic pit swirling ferocity. That balance of fragility and force not only ended a warm evening with musical satisfaction, but made a large open outdoor venue, seem closer to the intimacy of a big backyard party.

NORTHLANE