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Show Review: The Dangerous Summer previews Mother Nature at Valley Bar

Fans around the world were ecstatic when The Dangerous Summer returned to music after a lengthy hiatus. Now, the band is prepping their second post-breakup album and they brought their headlining tour to Arizona last week to preview the new tunes.

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Modern Modern Chemistry started things off as attendees slowly started to fill the room for the early show. The quartet played through songs from their 2017 debut album, sprinkling in some newer songs as well. One diehard fan requested “Pretty Death” and the band obliged with a laugh, as singer Joe Zorzi struggled to remember all of the lyrics.

In an “unusual situation” for the band, they were asked to play a longer set, as technical difficulties seemed to sideline the following acts. They were happy to continue, closing things out with acoustic versions of a few older tracks.

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The reason for the delay was soon explained. Have Mercy (joined by half of Modern Chemistry as fill-in musicians) entered and vocalist Brian Swindle explained that his extreme dehydration almost prevented him from playing the show. Not wanting to leave fans hanging, he powered through a handful of songs, including a stellar cover of The Killers’ “When You Were Young”. Unfortunately, his set was cut short all too soon, almost passing out in the middle of the band’s last song. The audience sent their well-wishes and Swindle was ushered out of the venue for medical treatment.

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Valley Bar got noticeably more crowded for The Dangerous Summer. Singer AJ Perdomo, guitarist Matt Kennedy and drummer Ben Cato are clearly just as stoked to be back onstage regularly as their fans are to be seeing them up there. The band opened with the powerful combo of “Bring Me Back to Life” and “Where I Want to Be” while the room sang along.

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Perdomo routinely checked in on his audience, keeping the party and the emotions running high. “This is Life” and “Color” added to the momentum. Later in the show, Perdomo joined the crowd in a show circle lit by the room’s cell phones. The band closed the night with “Never Feel Alone” before returning for an encore of “Way Down” and “Infinite”.

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It’s truly impossible to watch these gentlemen play without experiencing an entire range of emotions throughout their always-excellent live shows. Thankfully, The Dangerous Summer seems to be here to stay. Don’t miss the rest of their summer tour and check out Mother Nature, out June 14, 2019.

 

Story and photos by Olivia Khiel