By Molly McCoy
The Band Camino brought their Screaming in The Dark tour to the UCCU Center in Orem, Utah on Saturday night, the energy for the long awaited tour could be felt in the air from the lively fans mingling in the arena. It has been almost a year and a half since The Band Camino had come to Utah, clearly the fans could hardly wait to see them again. Touring their newest album “The Dark” the night was promising to be an unforgettable one.
Charlotte Sands kicked off the night with the perfect amount of energy. I had never seen Charlotte Sands before this but I had heard a lot of good things. She definitely exceeded expectations with her powerful vocals and her fun personality that she brought to the stage. She quickly made the stage her own, feeding off the energy of her fellow bandmates as well as the crowd. My favorite song of the night was an unreleased “Spite”. The crowd, coming unglued and going crazy with excitement, seemed to love it as well. If I could describe Charlotte’s performance in one word it would be ‘inclusive’ whether you like her style of music or not, you can’t help but love her as she makes the show feel very personal to each person in the venue. Sadly Charlotte’s last show was this one as she and her band left for Europe to tour with Five Seconds of Summer.. Whether you see her during their tour or on her own, she is definitely an artist you won’t want to miss.
Next up was Bad Suns. They are a band that I have seen a few times and I discovered their music around the time I discovered The Band Camino, so to have them tour together was a cool experience. Lead singer Christo Bowman brings a unique energy to the stage. He is able to connect with the crowd while also keeping a sense of mystery present. They played a slightly longer set than Charlotte’s, covering a wide range of their popular hits as well as a few deep cuts. In Bad Suns fashion they entered on the stage with the lights showing nothing but their silhouettes, before Christo’s voice rang out on the microphone and the lights finally revealed the band members. Bad Suns is a perfect opening choice for The Band Camino as they share a similar music style without too much overlap. Therefore, if you’re a Band Camino fan you are likely to become a Bad Suns fan as well. They ended their set with one of my favorite songs “Daft Pretty Boys” as the crowd danced and sang along. Bad Suns has toured in Utah a few times and I know fans are excited for them to come back one day.
Finally it was time for The Band Camino to take the stage, comprised of three members, Jerffery Jordan (vocalist and guitarist), Garrison Burgess (Drummer) and Spencer Stewart (vocalist and guitarist). This trio leaves nothing on the table in their live performance. Let me preface this by saying one of my favorite things about The Band Camino, one of the things that made me fall in love with this band back in 2019, is their light show and stage set -up. I compare every other band’s light show to theirs. They have figured out early how to not only draw the fans’ attention to them by their music but keep their attention throughout the show due to their stage presence and energy and their light show throughout the set. Their album ‘The Dark’ is a black and white concept, so naturally the concept for their tour ‘Screaming In The Dark’ – ‘In
Full Living Color’. Their set up has incorporated a lot of fluorescent colors to counter the darkness of the stage. Starting the night off with the song “Afraid of the Dark” the band comes out with nothing but black lighting, fluorescent colored guitars and black and white outfits.
Fans roared as they played through their first song, the song seamlessly transitioned into “1 last cigarette” off their last self titled album. The third song of the night was “Hush Hush” from their EP “Try Hard”. The first three songs are all from different albums, I thought this setlist choice was great as it showed how they have been able to stay true to their sound over the years while also being able to branch out with their style. Song after song they continued to impress the crowd and the crowd continued to grow in energy. After a few songs Jeffery and Spencer had a fun little banter as they introduced the band and told the crowd that this was the 2nd arena they have played on this tour. With this tour marking their biggest shows and largest venues to date. As Jeffery asked the crowd how we were doing and was met with loud yells in return his only response was “Damn Utah goes hard for The Band Camino”.
Something special about this tour, and one of my favorite parts of the night, was the acoustic set. I have always loved acoustic parts of sets because, in my opinion, it really shows the talent of the artist. The ability to play any song in an acoustic setting, stripped down so the audience can hear vocals perfectly is a great indicator to the talent of the performer. For this part of the set Jeffery asked for fans to put a song request on their phones and they would play parts of some of the requested songs. Instantly a group of fans started chanting “Sorry Mom”. Jeffery laughed saying he would tell his mom that the crowd loved that song before playing a verse and chorus of the song. He later revealed that was the first time the song had been played live. They continued on playing a total of eight songs, pulling from some of their first ever released songs to newer ones, ending with the fan favorite “The Black and White”. Spencer’s vocals were immaculate as he sang that song and the crowd sang along with just as much passion.
Following the acoustic set, The Band Camino read a sign indicating that it was a fan’s birthday and he wanted to play drums on their song 2/14. The fan, Mikey, happens to be the drummer in a local band in Provo and the fellow crowd members chanted his name and he took to the stage. He played the drums throughout the song as Garrison was his own personal hype man dancing around the stage and drum kit. Needless to say, the sense of comradery between Utah and The Band Camino grew even stronger Saturday night.
As the night drew to a close, their final song was “See Through” . This song has been a fan favorite for years as its chorus is one that you scream sing in the car with friends. The energy it brings is unmatched, as there are quite a few fast-paced lyrics which only adds to the appeal. After the song was over, and the crowd yelled for an encore the band came out to Garrison’s drumming only for Spencer to start singing “I Think I Like You”. During this song the band invited Charlotte Sands and her band to come out and hit cowbells before saying goodbye and
thanking them for being on tour with them. They sang two last songs including one of their very first and very beloved “Berenstein” before ending with their widely popular “Daphne Blue”.
With twelve more dates left on this tour, most of those with low ticket warnings or already sold out shows I promise this is not a tour you would want to miss. From their high energy and dancing on stage to their indie rock sound they know how to capture energy and excitement. Utah fans are already counting down, ready and excited for a return that can’t come soon enough.
