One thing about MISSIO is they always have something cooking, and the fans never go hungry. Case in point: five albums in five years, most recently with 2024’s I Am Cinco that featured 26 songs. “We have a lot of music in our catalog,” vocalist Matthew Brue mused at the duo’s show at Phoenix’s Rebel Lounge on Saturday night. That makes it hard to create a setlist that balances the new music they want to show the world with the crowd pleasers that launched their career.
Somehow, it feels like the fans would show up to see even the most obscure deep cuts. The venue was already packed halfway through Layto’s opening set, and the sea of wall-to-wall bodies moved as one to the edgy synth-heavy beats.
But don’t let those dance-ready tracks fool you — MISSIO songs tackle the good, the bad, and the ugly of human emotion and experience. (Cinco is broken into chapters: I Am Sad, I Am High, I Am Awesome, I Am Angry, and I Am Crazy.) Brue shared before a handful of songs how fans have reached out over the years to share how much meaning they’ve found in the music. Standouts include “Bottom of the Deep Blue Sea,” “I See You,” and “Sing to Me,” which prompted the crowd to join in.
Alternating between these thematically heavier songs were the self-described “fuck shit up” moments, including “Rad Drugz” and “KDV,” that kept the party going. The lights, heart-stopping drums, and kinetic energy of everyone on stage created a near-immersive experience. And it all culminated with a singalong to “Middle Fingers,” all hands in the air as instructed.
