Armor For Sleep at The Wiltern – Live Review

Armor For Sleep, The Wiltern, April 17, 2024

Bayside’s The Worse Things Than Being Alive Tour made its way to The Wiltern in Los Angeles, with Finch, Armor For Sleep, and Winona Fighter opening the show. It was a night of glorious emo rock enveloping the cavernous Wiltern auditorium. Especially impressive was Armor For Sleep from New Jersey, performing songs from a vast and epic career in music. It’s amazing to think that their iconic albums Dream To Make Believe and What To Do When You Are Dead were released 20 years ago, and how absolutely impassioned their songs remain to this day when performed live.

Opening the set with the euphoric Remember To Feel Real from What To Do With You Are Dead (as well as the Snakes On The Plane soundtrack), Armor For Sleep instantly captivated the audience with this opening commencement. Up next was the title track to Dream To Make Alive, sounding vibrantly rapturous 21 years after the original release. The grand and dazzling anthem-like refrains of Williamsburg from Smile For Them would follow – now covering all three of their releases from the 2000’s.

Armor For Sleep recently presented a brand-new album entitled The Rain Museum, a stunning comeback endeavor to be sure – and the band would unveil the stunning In This Nightmare Together at The Wiltern. And then closing the set way too soon was the absorbing one-two punch of The Truth About Heaven and Car Underwater, which had the nearly filled to capacity house singing along.

Fronted by charismatic singer/songwriter Ben Jorgensen, Armor For Sleep is considered one of the defining bands of the emo/post hardcore genre. Jorgensen and his band really delivered the goods tenfold in a live setting, leaving a tremendous impact in the hearts and minds of all who arrived early to capture their standout performance. All this, and Jorgensen would venture out immediately after the set to meet and greet fans at the Armor For Sleep merch booth.

Here’s hoping Armor For Sleep return to the Southland for additional shows in the future – it would be great to hear even more songs from The Rain Museum. One event to definitely look forward to in the future – Armor For Sleep will be making an appearance at this year’s When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas, NV from October 19-20 where they will perform What To Do When You Are Dead, in its entirety!  In addition, Armor For Sleep will be on select dates of the 20 Years of Tears Tour this Summer headlined by Hawthorne Heights and Thursday!

(Review by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)

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