by Grace Earley
Set It Off came through Indianapolis, IN on May 21st for a sold out show at Old National Centre. The Pop-Punk quartet, who originate from Tampa, Florida, brought an unmatched energy to the 500 capacity Deluxe. Despite the heat of the downstairs venue, every single person in the room was prepared to give the night their all.
RIVALS began the night with "Fake Rich", the leading single off of their sophomore album Sad Looks Pretty Good On Me. A better group couldn’t have been picked to warm up the crowd. Composed of Lead Singer Kalie Wolfe, Drummer Josh Alves, Guitarist Mickey Woodle, and Bassist Sebastian Clarke, the Pop-Emo quartet blew my expectations out of the water. I will definitely find myself listening to their music in my own time.
Pop-Punk group In Her Own Words continued the night, and the sound of the screams filling the room spoke for itself. Front Man Joey Fleming powered through the 7 song set without a single dip in his enthusiasm. I particularly enjoyed their song "Alone With You", and the crowd did as well.
Lastly, the final opener to take the stage was TikTok famous Scene Queen. Formally known as Hannah Collins, Scene Queen has taken the Alternative Metal scene by storm. The Upstate New York native blew up on TikTok, and not long after released a single featuring Set It Off's lead vocalist, Cody Carson. She spoke on the importance of this tour, saying that it felt like a full circle moment to her, due to her extensive history of being a fan of Set It Off. Scene Queen exerts a powerful female energy that the genre hasn’t seen in a very, very long time.
Finally, around 10pm, the most anticipated act of the night took the stage. Set It Off is composed of Lead Singer Cody Carson, Guitarist Zach Dewall, and Drummer Maxx Danzinger. The band gained much of their popularity after the release of their song "Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing", which has over 200 million streams on Spotify. Beginning their set with their recent release, "Punching Bag", the energy of the night was set immediately. A few songs in, Cody asked the audience if they could promise to catch him if he crowd surfed. Disregarding how the security guards lining the barricade felt, he did exactly that. Playing songs such as "The Haunting", "Miss Mysterious", and "Lonely Dance", it was obvious that no one regretted spending their night at Deluxe.
As a fan of the band, I can say that the perfect song was picked to end the evening. Closing out the set with their song "Why Worry", the group and their fans alike used every last ounce of life in them to go out with a bang. Whenever Cody said that Indianapolis was always one of the loudest shows on the tour, he wasn’t wrong in any way possible. I will, without a doubt, be seeing these guys whenever they come back through again. If you missed out on them this time around, make sure you don’t again, you will regret it.
