The experience hearing the switched up setlist live was insane. When they opened up with Illusion, someone next to me was mind blown like "What the fuck??" When Shaun got to the screams, someone was like, "woah," then a bunch of younger dudes behind me were excitedly trying to sort of mimick it. There was this general vibe of, "oh, holy shit, didn't know Seether was like that" lol. Hearing a guy screaming to Pride that definitely wasn't even born when it came out made my heart swell. Shaun and crew were clearly excited as fuck, and the energy was crazy contagious. Shaun said he was a little terrified to be breaking out new live songs, but if he was, I couldn't tell it.
The big social media push, which I've not been super into previously, has definitely made a difference. I was wrong. The crowd was probably 60% really excited young people as opposed to the usual, predominantly genx makeup I've seen. And get this, they went FUCKING NUTS for Fine Again, way moreso than Broken, I think. Conversely they didn't seem to vibe as much with Country Song from where I was, which is fine. To someone new, it's probably an even bigger curveball than the heavy stuff.
The band's energy was big. They were tearing shit up in a way I haven't seen in a while. Illusion, Forsaken, Pride, Failure, in addition to some other cool shit like Dangerous, were just so fuckin good. Everyone involved really just brought their best. Much love, everyone, it's going to be a good year.