So, another story of a night of metal was set in Omaha, Nebraska: a city so relatively insignificant that once it loses its context, it loses its significance completely. In almost the dead-center of the continental United States lies a Midwestern town that has a small bar that has been bringing in legendary bands for years and years, even between multiple owners. Now, it’s called the Lookout Lounge, and that’s where The Faceless and The Zenith Passage’s short mid-June run landed on the 21st of June, 2016. It was an early and short show, with doors open at 6pm and four bands on the card. Antares and Greg the Hero were the two local bands, and they both put on stellar live shows. Greg the Hero had just come off a long break, so the band decided to play in an all-Hawaiian get-up like they just came back from vacation. It was clever and went over really well, so by the time The Zenith Passage came on, everyone was in a great mood.
There is a crux with technology advancing as rapidly as it has, and it is taking the music world with it. As these bands move forward with much more advanced gear, things suddenly become a lot more complicated on-stage and with the house sound. Even when everything is set up perfectly on your end after spending hours and probably days putting everything together, one rogue un-ground wire can set the whole thing back and make you precious set time.
I have to give Justin McKinney of The Zenith Passage (and now with The Faceless) an immense amount of credit here; this man is absolutely incredible. He smashed two full sets back-to-back, managing backing tracks, handling leads, and making the other necessary space noises. Even though it was a mini-tour, he was still playing two sets a night for a week. That’s pretty commendable, especially given the quality of performance he’s putting out. Everything about both bands was incredibly tight and well done. There were a handful of technical difficulties that the bands powered through like professionals.
Seeing The Faceless in a venue like the Lookout was a pretty unique experience. These bigger bands have the sound, presence, and power to fill festivals and headline tours; and all of that was packed into a small room with a bunch of really stoked fans. They played tracks off of everything, going from ‘Planetary Duality’ to ‘Akeldama’, and finishing of course with ‘Autotheism’ in full. It’s a massive difference compared to the huge shows they played in the following dates, but I can say for certain that people around here would never forget events like these.