Panic In Eden Rocks The Queen Mary In Long Beach

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

September 13th 2014, The Queen Mary, Long Beach CA: Once a grand ocean liner and World War II troopship, the retired Queen Mary stands permanently moored in Long Beach, and now this historic landmark not only serves as a luxury hotel but also plays host to a variety of events and festivals. The ‘Rock The Boat’ music festival took place on it yesterday across 3 floors and 13 stages, and Los Angeles-based rock ‘n roll quintet Panic In Eden were amongst a plethora of local and national acts that partook in the festivities, performing at the Degenerate Clothing stage on the middle floor.

They hit the stage at 4:30 for a 35-minute set and came across as positively contrasting to the soft alt rock band that played just before them on this stage. Led by vocalist Pierce Humke’s soaring vocals and eccentric stage antics to go with righteously vintage rock guitar sound delivered by Will Hammond and Conor Spellane, and backed up by a solid rhythm section comprising Alex Diaz (bass) and Nick Marshall (drums), Panic In Eden presented an enjoyable interpretation of rock ‘n roll music, starting out with only a handful of people standing by to watch their set but attracting more and more from around the floor with every song.

While his four band mates had their instruments perfectly dialed in and focused on combining to put forth the best possible representation of the band’s current sound, Pierce Humke dominated the visual aspect of the performance with his showmanship which included multiple changes in and/or removals of clothing, boogying, jumping off the stage onto the floor and interactions with the crowd, to compliment his excellent vocal delivery. It was hard for the audience to take their eyes off him, and he looked like a man possessed by Jim Morrison’s ghost. His voice was a great fit with the music which was a rather pleasant surprise because he isn’t even the band’s original vocalist.

In comparison to Panic In Eden’s 2013 self-titled debut EP which featured the original vocalist, this version of the band fronted by Humke carried a completely different vibe altogether, certainly more rock ‘n roll, rougher round the edges. The set comprised five songs in total with two brand new and yet unrecorded tunes, and three off of the Ep which sounded almost unrecognizable, in a good way. The two versions of the band are so distinct from each other that it would be perhaps fair to say that the EP shouldn’t even be considered a justifiable representative of the band, and their next studio effort will better serve that purpose.

Other than Panic In Eden’s set, I really wasn’t able to pay attention to anything else happening elsewhere on the Queen Mary and nothing really swayed me on this energy-sapping day, although whenever Panic In Eden took a pause between songs, a screamo band from one of the other stages on the same floor was clearly audible, which at a multi-stage festival should never be the case. But nonetheless, a great set from a fledgling band with a bright future made it worth the trip. For folks that like to go against the popular belief that the ‘scene is dead’ and still care to check out new rock bands, I recommend Panic In Eden.

Check out a gallery of 41 Panic In Eden photos from the show below, and to view the downloadable versions or if you’re on a non-Flash device, click here:

Panic In Eden links: facebook | twitter

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