• Facts
      • Band: The Dreaming
      • Date: April 15, 2008
      • venue: The Pour House, Raleigh, NC
      • Genre: alternative/metal
      • Official website: The Dreaming
      • The Bullet Rating: 8/10
      • .
    • Setlist
      • Dead To Me
      • Make It Go Away
      • Disconnected
      • Sticks & Stones
      • Bleed
      • Become Like You
      • Let It Burn
      • What Do You Want
      • Send Me an Angel
      • Bullet
      • Ugly
      • Save Yourself
      • .

    • Rating
      • 10 - Head banging rock
      • 8 - Rock N Roll
      • 6 - Wobble
      • 4 - Sway
      • 2 - Seaside rock

Live review: The Dreaming in Raleigh USA

Raleigh, NC isn't exactly the epicentre of arts, music and culture in the southeast. Maybe that's the reason attendance at The Pour House was so sparse on the night The Dreaming came to play, because it couldn't have been the band. I've never been to a rock show with only a dozen fans waiting at the door before show time, nor have I been part of a crowd that plateaus at about thirty people, including both bands and all the people that work there. But I've also never been to a show where the headliners watch their own opening act from the audience, set up and break down their own equipment, handle their own merch sales at the table, and not only sign autographs but hang out and chit-chat with the fans before, during, and after the show.

Support act: Half Past My Sin

Opening band Half Past My Sin is loud, bombastic, and melodic. They bravely attempt to 'warm up' a slowly growing crowd of about fifteen while the rest of the bar patrons get drinks or mill around by the merch table. Banter with the audience is scattered, a little forced, and very sweary. They know their assignment – to kill time before The Dreaming comes onstage – and don't make any attempt to do anything more than just that. It's a decent but forgettable set, fine music with lackluster stage presence and a surly frontman.

The Dreaming

The Dreaming takes the stage without fanfare or theatrics; the members of the band, scattered around the venue amongst their fans, slowly drift onstage to set up their equipment, and spend a good twenty minutes or so adjusting stage lights, amps, and microphones. Finally, satisfied with their efforts, they jump into album opener "Dead To Me," and the fans surge forward – a tiny but feisty knot of people eager to get their mosh on.

The biggest selling point for The Dreaming is the fact that frontman, Christopher Hall, used to front the lovelorn industrial outfit Stabbing Westward in the late 1990s. But if that's the reason you're coming to see them now, you're going to be very surprised. The Dreaming may have similar chord progressions and the same wistful, sultry crooner, but the overall sound is much heavier, much faster, and in my opinion a lot more fun to mosh to. The rest of the line-up includes Johnny Haro on drums, also from Stabbing Westward; Brent Ashley on bass; and guitarists Carlton (formerly of Deadsy) and Jinxx.

The atmosphere stays relaxed and low-key, and the band takes a couple breaks during their set to get more drinks or just talk to the audience. Breaking down the fourth wall between audience and performer is always an important selling point to me, personally, but in this case it's as if there is no wall at all. The band delivers a powerful, high-energy performance, not just by playing their hearts out, but by engaging the audience in such a way as to make us feel as much a part of the show as they are. The show ends with the Stabbing Westward radio hit, Save Yourself – a nostalgic and surreal encore played to thunderous applause.

Verdict: Don't go to see The Dreaming expecting to see a reincarnation of Stabbing Westward. Those days are gone, and as sad as that is, we should let them go. The Dreaming is something new, something organic and exciting, and not to be missed.

Laurel [guest reviewer]